What's the expiration date on love?

It seems I got more than I bargained for from the latest chick flick at the Megaplex.

I expected yet another overly-sappy, half-baked, flimsy romance about finding true love with the closest arrogant phony nearby. Of course, Hollywood did not disappoint. However, my $8 ticket wasn’t entirely hopeless. To its credit, the film’s twisted turn on romance was certainly thought-provoking.

Letters to Juliet is the story of a young girl headed to Verona for a pre-honeymoon with her fiancé. Through a string of miraculous events, Sophie convinces Claire- a 60-something woman from England, that time does not dissipate the power of true love. Armed with this conviction, the two women set out to find Victor Bartollini- a stunning man that stole Claire’s heart in Verona nearly 50 years ago. The moral of the story: don’t let a good man out of your life because you might realize you love him…half a century later.

This notion made me consider the Romeos in my own life. What happens if you let a good man walk out of your life? Do you rush after him in a flurry of apologies and offer him your cooking condolences? Do you send a hound of scouts off to monitor his greasy moves? Or do you start the stopwatch and put your feet up- waiting for him to wander back.

I admit I have stubbornly done the later. But he must have a bad sense of direction, because he wandered the wrong way. Romeo wandered off and got married, but when we run into each other on campus, butterflies still flutter around my stomach.

Just like Claire in Letters to Juliet, I was left wondering: what is loves’ expiration date? Do those first feelings of love ever fade?

Recently Romeo #2 returned home from Spain and showed up at my house. Upon hearing his voice from the back room my brain instantly recognized the sound, despite two years of absence. Those feelings of adoration come creeping back, and it seems he never left.

Although I do not regret my decision to let certain Romeos go, it seems time does nothing to erase significant feelings.

Like I said, Letters to Juliet gave me more than I bargained for.