Together Again, Or Not

Since I've been more or less reviewing romantic movies lately, I might as well add in Before Sunset, where a writer on tour in Paris to promote a novel based on his one-night relationship with a French woman ten years earlier is surprised when she shows up at his final reading of the tour.

What ensues is a long conversation as the couple strolls through Paris, stops at a cafe, rides a tourist boat, and finally, ends up back at her apartment.

Over the course of the conversation, they both slowly admit that that one night had changed both of them in ways they'd never gotten over. That much had already been apparent about the writer, because he wrote a novel about it, so the revelation comes from her -- the object both of his affection and his story.

Part of the back story is that the pair had planned a rendezvous six months after their one night together -- in Vienna. We learn that he flew over there, filled with expectation and hope, only to discover that she did not show up. (It turns out she had a good excuse -- her beloved grandmother's funeral.)

What she finally admits is that after meeting and losing him she stopped believing in love.

There, that's enough of a synopsis. The very best and sexiest line comes at the end, however, when she observes, "Somebody's going to miss his plane."

***

There'd be no love without trust, a most fragile commodity. Trust yields connection. Connection forges a bond strong enough to last forever, though often it does not.

I remember in the aftermath of one breakup when my ex-partner explained that she still loved me, she just wasn't in love with me any more. Believe it or not, that helped me get over her, particularly when extremely soon after this, someone new did fall in love with me.

Happy endings. Ah yes, ask me again tomorrow. Yesterday I believed in them, today I don't. It's bound to be that way, no? Back and forth, like flowers in the breeze.

This was going through my mind when I spied the two little purple beauties in a sea of clover that formed the image in the photo at the top of this post.

Somehow, people find each other -- that part I get.

Somehow people lose each other -- that part I still don't get.

If it seems like we've wandered down this path before, we have, but life, love, loss, grief, recovery, new life -- it's all part of the process, right?

At least, the artists say we are not alone in our journey.

Well, everybody hurts sometimes,
Everybody cries. And everybody hurts sometimes
And everybody hurts sometimes. So, hold on, hold on
Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on
Everybody hurts. You are not alone -- R.E.M.

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