Today is my parents' 40th wedding anniversary. Four decades of marriage: pretty impressive, huh? Even more impressive when you consider that they're high school sweethearts. Yeah, they started dating back when my mother was 15 (or, as she likes to say, "we've been together since we were fetuses"). They've never been with anyone but each other!Over the past few years, I've learned a little something from watching my parents. (Before that, I was a teenager and I knew everything.) I think one of the reasons they're still happy together is that they're not complacent about their marriage. It would probably be very easy to get lazy after so long. But they still do new things together--they vacation in new places or try new restaurants. They laugh together A LOT and still create their own personal in-jokes with admirable frequency. They're friends as well as spouses.
I hope, in 40 years, that Mr. Marvelous and I can say the same!
Their story would make for a terrible romance novel. They've never dealt with secret babies or arranged marriages. My father is not a vampire. My mother is not a plucky FBI agent. They don't fight crime and the state of their relationship has nothing to do with bringing about or averting the apocalypse.
And yet, they inspire me every day by the way they treat each other.
And so, to honor my parents, I ask the question: what real life romances inspire you? Maybe they inform your writing. Or maybe they inform your life. Either way, I want to hear about them!
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3 comments:
Definitely my parents. Their 40th is in two weeks! (And my gparents w/ their 65th in April!) I'm lucky to have such great examples.
I think the really great romance novels are the ones where the couples remind me of the real love I see around me in my family - not the I-hate-you-no-wait-I-love-you ones that are chock full of drama. I just finished What Happens in London which had what felt like a "real" relationship to me. Now, if only I could write like that. *sigh*
What a lovely blog. Congrats to your parents. Mine will hit the 43 mark in October and sometimes I think they are only still together because they are too lazy to call it quits.
Not that they don't like each other, but I'm not sure their real friends. Those are the stories that inspire me. I love in a Romance where the H/H really are best friends and not just have the hots for each other.
Congrats to your parents! Mine had their 40th anniversary last year.
I've held my own marriage up to the standards of romance novels before and found it refreshingly lacking as well. :)
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