Never Settle For Less

Sarah was surprised when her husband agreed to watch the latest “chick flick” that she had purchased…a love story starring 2 of her favorite actors.  It was a movie she had been wanting to see for quite a long while, but had never taken the time to go and see it.

Her husband was more into the action films with lots of blowing up things and car chases.  He didn’t ever want a movie with a really involved storyline.  The simpler and more entertaining…the better.  And love stories bored him to tears.  Those were the ones he usually fell asleep in.

So when he agreed to watch the movie with her, she was very excited…knowing that he was willing to watch it because he knew it would please her.  She thought it was very sweet.

Sarah loved the movie and saw many parallels to her own life.   The ending was sad because one of the people in love died.  She could feel the tears running down her face at how cruel life could be.  A couple falls in love after years of being with the wrong person.  As soon as they get together, something happens and one of them tragically dies.  Sarah  glanced over at her husband and he was watching the movie intently.  She was glad he couldn’t see her tears, because he always made fun of her when she cried in movies.

At the very end of the movie, the woman tells her daughter “Never settle for anyone less than you deserve.  Never settle for anything less than that heart stopping, passionate love that makes you weak in the knees.  Life is too short to settle.”

At this point Sarah glanced at her husband because there were tears streaming down her face.  How many times she had felt that she had “settled”.  She wanted to make sure that he did not see her crying.  But Sarah was in for her own surprise.

Her husband was staring at the movie and tears were silently streaming down his face.  Sarah’s heart stopped, for this was not at all like her husband.  And then she wondered why he was crying.  Did he also feel that he had settled for less than the kind of love he truly deserved?

Sarah never said a word to her husband about seeing him cry, and he never said a word to her either.  Deep down she wondered what he was crying about…but knew she would never know.

How sad, she thought…if they were both going through life together “settling” for each other.  How sad that she would never really know…..but she was too scared to ask him.

What if he told her he was settling for her?  What if he told her he loved somebody else besides her?  Some questions are best left unanswered…and the price of not knowing was worth it to Sarah.  They would continue on as they had been and she would forget about the tears streaming down his face….until they came to haunt her in her dreams.