I had a conversation the other day while traveling--total stranger seated next to me on a flight who had no idea what he was getting himself into when he asked, "So, what do you do?" When I responded, "I'm an author," he was openly intrigued...until I told him I write romance. "Why feed the lie that people can meet and fall in love in days or even weeks? It's utter bullshit." (His words, not mine.) To which I smiled and responded, "Thanks for clearing that up. I'll have to let my husband know just as soon as I'm home that we're not really in love." The man looked at me, clearly confused, so I clarified. "We met and were engaged within two weeks, and we married within 9 months. And no, for the record, there was no baby or 'need' to marry other than that we loved each other." The man made a weird noise and asked, "Sure, and how long ago was that?" 

I smiled. "Twenty-one years ago last week."

I kind of get a kick out of telling the story, though very few people have ever heard the whole thing. I don't share the most intimate parts of our meeting, the personal exchange that stole my breath or the fact he was wearing the ugliest cowboy boots I'd ever seen. (True story...) My husband is a bona fide, poop-on-the-boots, black-hatted, Wrangler-wearing, Quarter-horse-master of a cowboy, thanks. Some things he wouldn't want shared. Others? Well, they end up in my books. (What? I'm an author.) LOL

The point of this little ramble is this: do I believe two people can meet and fall in love and be married for a lifetime? Absolutely. My grandpa was a hobo; my grandma was dressed as a boy because her physician father had the family living in a tent in the Texas oil fields and she was damned beautiful. They met and married in five days. If you have the guts to face her down and tell her that he didn't worship the ground she walked on for fifty-six years? Your balls are mighty big or your sense of self-preservation is incredibly small. One or the other, and possibly both.

Now ask me this: do you believe it's the  norm  for people to meet and fall in love that fast? Of course not. Look around you and tell me how often you've known it to happen. Not often and, when it does, it's rarely successful. But when it is? It's a love story for the ages. And really, isn't that what we read romance for--the love stories that defy the odds, test and/or push the boundaries of what we want to believe is plausible and really make us believe true love exists and is there for the bold to seize? I know that's why I read romance.

What about you? Do you believe love--true love--can be experienced in a short amount of time? If so, why? If not, (again) why? I'm always interested in readers' opinions and their take on life. Share with me and I'll send three randomly drawn lucky winners each a copy of Conquering the Cowboy (US and Canadian entries only please; www.random.org is the method of selection; entries are numbered in ascending order beginning with 1 and are recorded in the order in which they are received). 

Until next time,
​~Kelli