Love Leads to Heartbreak

Love inevitably leads to heartbreak. Let me explain a little more...





Love is heartbreak.

Well.  That's according to Adaline Bowman, played by the beautiful and talented Blake Lively in the movie, "The Age of Adaline." I watched this movie Friday night and had myself a good cry. I am a sucker for a good ol' romantic movie. And this movie, with an interesting plot twist and a good looking cast hooked me right away. Actually, if I'm being honest, Lively's timeless and chic wardrobe plus her regal and sophisticated character gave me all the feels. So much so, that I watched the movie a second time.

After a life altering car accident, Adaline will never age past 29, so she is constantly on the run, changing her identity and appearance every decade or so. Think of someone who's really 80.  But looks 25! Imagine having a daughter who is 85 and continues to age and grow older while you stay youthful at 29.  That's Adaline's life.

Even though she tries not to, she falls in love a few times, only to run away, breaking the hearts of the men she's left behind. Why? Well according to Adaline, if there isn't a future of "growing old together", there is heartbreak.

That got me reflecting a lot about love and Adaline's perspective. It also made me think of my uncle who passed away in October and his wife, my aunt, who is still grieving his loss to this day.  They were married over 40 years, and her loss, understandably so, is so deep and so painful.

But love is everything. Without the existence of love, without the companionship of love, without the beauty of love, without the life experiences, memories, treasures, hopes, and all the things that love can bring, a life without love...is no life at all.

In the words of Alfred Lord Tennyson, I do believe that it is indeed "better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all."

So Adaline. Let go. Fall in love.

And yes, love is heartbreak. When it ends. No matter how it ends. But Adaline has a never-ending life, so to speak. She has a lifetime of love if she wants it. She has nothing but "future" ahead of her. She can fall in love eight more times if she wants. That's more chances at love than most of us get in our lifetime.  And the "growing old together" part? Well that's for the truly lucky couples who get to experience it.