You know that feeling when you are on a roller coaster and the car is going up the steepest hill. You hear the click, click, click as you go up. And that feeling that curls in your belly, of pure adrenaline and anticipation. Yeah, that feeling is the best one in the world. Everything seems poised on a precipice, but hasn’t yet tipped. Time is suspended between what was and what’s to come. It’s almost like floating in zero gravity, feeling light and free and excited.
The drop is approaching and you don’t know what to expect. Will it be smooth and fast and take your breath away? Or will it be bumpy and bounce you around? No way to tell until the car tips over and you plunge into the unknown. The one thing that is clear is that you will never be the same again. There is a clear line of demarcation between the you that exists now, anticipating the fall and the you that plunges over the drop in near free fall.
Love is a lot like roller coasters. When you begin dating someone new, you have no way of knowing if you’re going to experience that plunge. When the chemistry is right, the anticipation of the first meeting or the first time feels just like that climb to the top of the steepest part of a roller coaster. And, if you’re very lucky, the fall is amazing. The coaster is smooth and fast and takes your breath away in the best possible ways.
The ride is amazing and adrenaline pumping and so good you want to ride over and over again. That’s what I love about reading romance novels. The story leading up to the HEA is a series of clicks up that big hill, anticipating the amazing ride to come.
Some of the best parts of life are those still moments before the fall when we are in a state of suspended grace, waiting for the next amazing thing the universe has to offer us.
Everyday life pulls us away from the experience of magic. Our challenge is to wake up to the magic in our lives, in our relationships and pay attention. To pause a moment to appreciate those moments of anticipation and really savor them. While they may not come around often, when they do the feeling is undeniable.