Loved Like Her

"I had kind of got the idea that there's not going to be some fabulous perfect soulmate out there for me, so I'll just make him up."
- Audrey Niffeneger, author of The Time Traveler's Wife

 

At one time or another, haven't we all felt like Audrey? Aching to find true love and (sometimes impatiently or manically) waiting for it to come. As a writer, Audrey reached into the imagination of her heart and created the love she desired. Many of us have benefited from her efforts, as well as the romantic works of others like her. While I devotedly remain hopeful that mine is out there and appearing in due time, it is nice (and comforting) to have literary loves in the interim.

I for one not only enjoy the "vicarious living" distraction, but by reading these stories I also understand more clearly what it is to love someone. Love isn't just a feeling, it's an action. It's dwelling in a state of being that is selflessly dependent on another. 

If I can give one word of advice to the male species out there, it is this :
DO NOT overlook the lessons behind these stories. Instead of making fun of them, study them. Read them, watch them. They hold the secrets as to how to love a woman and make her happy. Why do you think we all obsess, devour, pine over the fictional male characters in these novels? It isn't because of the way they look, but about the way they love. Women long for that sense of loyalty, protection, and devotion from a man. They yearn to be seen as idealistic, not threatened by wayward compromises, and worth all the work it takes to be with someone.

Unlike the others, this work of novetry isn't tied to just one story. It's inspired by a grouping of my favorite novels that contain epic love stories. Each line (well lines 1-8) is a summary/reflection of the love that the man has for his one-and-only lady.
Line 1 - Henry in The Time Traveler's Wife
Line 2 - Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights
Line 3 - Ian in The Host

Line 4 - Peeta in The Hunger Games Trilogy

Line 5 - Landon in A Walk to Remember

Line 6 - Noah in The Notebook

Line 7 - Edward in The Twilight Saga

Line 8 - Dr. Darcy in Pride & Prejudice

And the final lines (9 and 10) are a summary/reflection of a woman's heart and how it feels each time she encounters a love of this magnitude. A love that I believe in my heart of hearts IS possible. Truthfully, I am tired of being told it isn't. To everyone who says "Don't get your hopes up and live in a fairytale, love isn't like the storybooks," I fiercely challenge that with "well, why not?!" I say if we can dream it, we can create it. And to the argument that it takes both a man and a women with the capacity to create this type of love (how stories written by women for women can't realistically happen because men aren't like the creations nor do they think that way). Two words : Nicholas Sparks. If one man can get it, the potential is there for all to get it. You just have to find the right love. You have to find The One. (I know, I know such a cliche...still doesn't make it any less poignant)

So after that (longer than expected) introduction, please enjoy "Loved Like Her"

An anchor during an uncontrollable storm of time and space

Relied upon as a sole redeeming quality, a saving grace

Able to see past the surface to adore the soul within

Protection and promise liken to dandelion in spring

Conquered the impossibility of two places at once

A bird unfailingly singing their song of remembrance

Saved a soul from a life of endless night and sin

Desire steadfast despite or amidst affairs of kin

His love defies odds and manifests a dream come true

To be loved like her cannot come ‘all too soon’

As always, thanks for reading!

xo Krista Marie Rose

p.s. if any of you are unfamiliar with any of these 8 stories, I HIGHLY recommend you read them (...or at least visit their Wikipedia pages!)