Just When You Thought Romance Was Dead
I was running along the Charles last night in an attempt to clear my head and not die from overheating in the humidity, when I noticed something interesting. In sidewalk chalk written on the far end of the footpath by the boathouse someone had written a message:Colleen, I love you. Will you be my wife?
Looking back over my shoulder, still running in order to re-read the message, I bumped into a middle-aged man wearing a tank top and shorter shorts than my own, to which I said “sorry,” and he mumbled something of annoyance in return. (This was very similar to the time I literally ran into Steven Tyler on Newbury Street during an early morning run, almost knocked him over, and called him Mick Jagger). This time, however, I merely rolled my eyes, simply happy I hadn’t fallen down in the process or insulted anyone famous.
I got over the fact that the middle-aged man probably wasn’t the romantic who left the message and started to wonder who did. What kind of person proposes marriage in sidewalk chalk? And, much more to the point, how do we know for sure that Colleen even got the message? Does the man in question know she walks by there every day? What if it rains? What if she doesn’t see it? What if another Colleen with a fabulous long term boyfriend reads it and runs home screaming “Yes! Yes!” while said long term boyfriend looks at her thinking, what the?!
All I’m saying is that I guess romance isn’t dead, perhaps it’s just taking weird forms, like chalk. It sort of made me want to grab some chalk and start writing messages to people around the city, things I’ve been meaning to say, comments I’ve always wanted to make but haven’t had the buffer of chalk and the 99.9% chance they’re never going to receive it to motivate me.
When it comes to something as important as a marriage proposal, should we really be leaving it to the fate of sidewalk messaging? I guess we're always playing games when it comes to love- chalk or no chalk.
I just hope that Colleen, wherever she is, says yes.
posted by Victoria Comella @ 10:48 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home