Love Story

Some of you will laugh at what I’m about to tell you. Some may even want to ridicule me for it. And I’m ok with that. Despite what the consequences might be I’m willing to share something very personal with all of you. The thing that I want to tell you is…that…I love the Taylor Swift song, “Love Story.” I don’t know why but I’m a sucker for a good love story, and her song is no different.

Maybe it’s because of the music. It might be because of her voice. Or maybe it’s just that I can totally picture Taylor Swift singing it, but for whatever reason, I really like the song. Ok, I love it.

Now, I'm sure that some of you are probably laughing at me. I'm sure the men who are reading this are. You’re probably thinking that by admitting my love affair with love affairs, I have somehow lost my manhood. Let me just assure you that I lost my manhood long ago. The last straw was when I decided, being in a house of all girls, that it was easier to pee sitting down instead of standing up...a process that allows me to leave the toilet seat down and something my wife and girls appreciate greatly. So yeah, my manhood went down the toilet, so to speak, right after I flushed in the sitting position.

The thing is, for as long as I can remember I’ve always loved a good love story. It’s not anything that has come on suddenly. I’ve always known I was bit different from typical guys in this part of my life, and I kept it secret from my family and friends. I didn’t want them to know. I was afraid of being ostracized, or worse, that they might be ostracized because of me. I think many of them suspected but never said anything about it, wanting to avoid the topic altogether. It hasn’t been until recently that I have decided I am tired of running from who I really am. It's time for me to stand up for myself. It's time to embrace the person I am: I am a romantic at heart.

My all time favorite movie is Braveheart (which is really a love story if you think about it being about a man who is avenging the murder of his wife) followed closely by Sweet Home Alabama, Juno (if you didn’t realize this was a love story, you're crazy), Knotting Hill, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (how can you not love a story about two love cynics who fall madly in love with each other?), You’ve Got Mail, Sleepless in Seattle, 10 Things I Hate About You, or any other romantic comedy to come out in the last 20 years. Now don’t get me wrong, I still love a good action movie as much as the next guy, but only the best of those will warrant me to see it more than once, while I can almost always watch a good romantic comedy over and over again.

I have it bad. So bad in fact that when I watch a romantic comedy that doesn’t end the way I expect or hope it to, I get pissed. I’m devastated. I put it up there with the way I feel after BYU loses a football or basketball game to a team like Utah, only I don’t stay upset for quite as long afterwards. It’s so bad that counseling has crossed my mind on more than one occasion. The worst part is that it hasn’t gotten better over time. It's gotten worse. I’m more of a sucker for a good love story now than I’ve ever been before.

I’d like to blame it on my almost 9 years of marriage, or on the fact that I live in a house of all girls. But I can’t. Maybe it’s from the countless hours I've spent inhaling fingernail polish fumes while painting my girls' fingers and toes. Then again, maybe I’m just trying to find something or someone else to blame, when in reality it’s my problem and nobody else’s. It’s my addiction, my problem. I’m sure there’s help out there...but I don’t know if I want it.

I mean is it really so bad. But just ask yourself, with everything that’s wrong in the world, are we really so worried about a guy who loves a great love story that we’d want to change that? For now I’m happy where I am. I’m comfortable with who I am. And I’m not really sure I want to change. So leave me alone and let me sing my heart out to Taylor Swift’s “Love Story” while driving home from work. And who cares if I’m excited to go test drive minvans this weekend? They’re great vehicles with lots of room for the family. And many of them come with built in DVD players standard, which makes it that much easier to enjoy a good love story.