History is filled with examples of love’s rocky road ever since Lysander uttered those prescient words to Hermia in the palace of Theseus. Many Lovers made the ultimate sacrifice. Juliet awoke to find Romeo taking the dirt nap by her side and sadly joined him. In 1934 law enforcement officers caught up with star-crossed lovers Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow transforming them into Swiss cheese with 167 bullets. Some lovers put the good of humanity before their own happiness. Remember when Rick Blaine forced Ilsa Lund to board the plane to Lisbon? Ilsa had professed her undying love for Rick months ago, their love story interrupted by the Nazi army marching into Paris (and the temerity of her secret husband Victor Laszlo to turn up alive).
Although the road to true love can be bumpy and fraught with danger it sometimes does lead to a fairytale ending. In 1973, Linda and I were introduced by mutual friends who invited us over to play their favorite card game, Hearts. Afterwards I walked Linda across the courtyard to her apartment and she blocked my attempt to enter saying goodnight while shutting the door in my face. A week later I asked our friend in to invite Linda to come over for another game of Hearts. Linda accepted and while she was again able to resist my not-to-subtle invitation at her door, she did agree to a dinner date for the following week. Saturday night I did laundry, put on my best Ban-Lon shirt and took her to a very chic and expensive seafood restaurant; one I could not afford. Although the substantial cash outlay did not get the desired result of seeing the inside of her apartment, it did get me the next best thing, a kiss. The rest is history. From that moment on I had a permanent New Year’s Eve date, almost 50 years so far.
The course of true love did, at last, run smooth. Linda then shared with me two things she hates most: playing cards and eating fish.