Romance?

I'm one of those people who mange to be both completely cynical and hopelessly romantic at the same time.

I remember seeing "Before Sunrise" when it first came out and even though I was a young teen who had never been kissed back then, I did like it but I was a little "bah humbug" about the whole thing. I saw it a few years later when I was around 20 and still thought the same thing - although I had more appreciation for the intelligent conversation.

For those who haven't seen it, it's about two people - Celine and Jesse - who meet, who have amazing chemistry, but only a day to spend together. Basically, the whole film is just them talking about everything and anything. And it's nice to see how they connect and click and bond over such a short period of time. But I was way too cynical to actually buy the concept that anything like that was possible. To me, love was always much more sedate, thoughtful, and practical, and there's no way I'd throw myself into the arms of a complete stranger.

Okay, that's a lie. I have been known to through myself into the arms of complete strangers back in the day - particularly if they were good looking (oh the shallowness of it all!). So let me rephrase: there's no way I'd fall in love with a total stranger who's a bit of a nobody over such a short period of time. In other words: - whirlwind romances? Never had one.

But yesterday, I saw the sequel "Before Sunset" - and totally bawled my eyes out.

It came out about two years ago but I never bothered with it before. It's set 9 years after the first movie and it's in real time - in this movie, the couple only have an hour or so together after they bump into each other because he has to catch a plane. But this movie seems so much more real. Apart from the fact that it's filmed to be in "real time", it's also more real, more jaded, but still sweet. They're really awkward with each other at first, but the connection comes back and it's so clear that these two were meant to be together. Except that they wont be - he's married with a kid, she's in a relationships too - although the ending of the film is ambiguous about what they end up doing. But the theme is that life doesn't turn out the way one expects, and as Celine says "I guess when you're young, you just believe there'll be many people with whom you'll connect with. Later in life, you realize it only happens a few times."

And that's so very true.

And to me that's not just true of those we have romantic relationships with, it's also true of real friendships. There are very few people we connect with in both these aspects of life - and there's so many times we don't realise what we have until it's gone.