A love like the one of our grandparents

I know that times are constantly changing and that everyday life has gotten hectic, but it actually disappoints me that I do not hear about great love stories like those we see in the movies or read about in novels, or even the ones we heard from our grandparents as children.

I believe we’ve all heard many stories about ‘friends with benefits’ relationships or other kinds of silly modern relationship.  Nothing about love letters, though; not even love text messages. No romantic gestures of love, like a man giving a flower to a woman.

It makes me wonder, are all the sentiments of affection nothing but the past?

I am certain that true, insane love stories still exist, but it is more difficult to find them in a world where everything has pretty much lost its true meaning; where love might be hiding in the smallest details of our everyday life, but we are too busy to actually ever give it a chance.

Love stories, like those of Romeo and Juliet, Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth –even Ross and Rachael– are the ones that, at some point, we have all hoped to have, to experience. The greatest love story of all, though, regardless to the fact that is not known by the whole world, is the one of our grandparents.

Our grandparents grew up quickly –in a time and age when you were considered an adult in adolescence– and then they grew old together. They lived their whole life together, creating a whole new world for others, loving and caring for each other no matter the difficulties – which were many. Poverty, distance, war; all these things and many others were the difficult parts of their ‘relationship’ but somehow they managed to overcome them all, and the problems brought on by the times because they truly loved each other.

They didn’t take anything for granted, because taking anything or anyone for granted is not a luxury they had; they only had each other. And they realized that it is one of the worst mistakes someone can make. They appreciated what they had and cherished it. No matter the problems, they fought together, as a team, and they managed to be together 60 years (and counting).

Pure love, that’s what we all need, pure unconditional love.

We should all have an old fashioned love.

What is an old fashioned love?

We should all try to figure out what our partner is telling us and what their actions show us. We should all be able to sit down and have an actual, meaningful conversation with that someone special. Well, for me at least, it’s this.

I want to listen to the words he has to say as he sits across from me; and he should do the same for me. I don’t want to be an option out of many – I want to be that one person who he thinks of and smiles, who he can grew old with, who he can discuss things and find solutions to any problems with; just like our Grandparents did.

Because as many grandparents say, back then, if something was broken, they didn’t throw it away, they fixed it.

I want to walk along the streets of different cities around the world when I’m old, laughing and smiling while holding his hand. I want to watch him sleeping next to me, dreaming of other worlds, while I’m reading my book. I want him to mean what he says. I want him to be honest. I don’t want the games and rules. I want love and affection.

I want someone who doesn’t make me question if they love me and if they want me in their lives. I want someone who will fight for us when things get rough and not just quit everything at the first sign of a difficult situation; someone who won’t just walk out the door because problems are difficult – and also inevitable.

But more than any of that, I want to be able to give my all to him as he will give his all to me. Like our grandparents. That person you should be with should want to love like our grandparents did.

After all, what we can actually learn from them is that, eventually, they got life and love right.