All we need to know about love, we learn from Pride and Prejudice

Happy Valentine's Day!

Sigh. I watched Pride and Prejudice Saturday night, for the tenth time I'm sure, and I realized how much I truly loved the movie, and why. The novel was published in 1813, and though we think we've come a long way, we haven't. Not about the truths of love. Everything about love then is the same as love now, and Jane Austen got it spot on.

As a girl, I can say that we spend the better part of our lives, from thirteen or so, looking for our Mr. Darcy. We expect him to come out of the blue, and he should have rays of sunlight surrounding him when he walks into our lives so we'll know for sure it's him. The wind should be blowing his hair back a little. HIs shoulders should be leaning forward as he walks, a sure sign that nothing can stop him from getting to us. He is determined. And he doesn't smile. Not at first. He's too brooding. We love brooding.

Of course, there is always an antagonist. Someone or something, a situation perhaps, that has to come between the couple to test its mettle. It usually rises up just as things are looking good for the couple. It's necessary, it totally is. Not just for plot in a novel. It has to happen in life so we can make sure it's what we really want, this thing we think is our Darcy. We want to make sure it's real. Because, the true Mr. Darcy of our lives is our rescue, no matter how things might be pretty okay and how much we will never admit it. Nothing is truly okay, and fully complete, until he appears. We're running around living our lives, but inside, we're waiting, just like the Bennett girls, for Him. Him who has the courage to pick us out from a sea of other beauties and who puts us high in his sky as his Northern Light. Nothing on earth is sweeter.

It comes in all forms, but usually jealousy is the core. Jealousy of the happiness. The only ones that can understand and be happy about your finding love are the ones that truly love you, or the ones that have love themselves.

In the end, love always wins. It's the most powerful force in existence. Nothing can stop true love. It comsumes us. It is the driving force of the whole world. We want to be rescued. We want to be loved. We want to find, as the Europeans say, the 'other half of our apple'. And it's out there. All the good novels tell us so.

Happy Valentine's Day! Go on, go find your Mr. Darcy or your Elizabeth Bennett and tell them how much you simply adore them. It's the day for it. <3 :)