All I Ever Needed To Know (Part 2)

Before 500 Days of Summer there was The Sound of Music.
We all know of the relationship that had every reason to work out, but didn't. Some of us know first hand how this feels. Others can only imagine. Leave reason and logic in the closet for this next one, folks. For here we enter the domain of Feeling. More often than not, in these circumstances, rationality is left behind and in turn, whim takes the place that planning once occupied. Fancy replaces reality. Common sense is exchanged for raw emotion. There is no understanding here. Things simply are.

The Baroness and Captain Von Trapp have every reason to be married. Both are wealthy and attractive. They love each other and enjoy each others company. Their relationship is drama free and steady-as-she-goes. But all it takes is one Maria to bring the clockwork to a shuddering halt. It reminds me of a Henrik Ibsen quote, "Your home is regarded as a model home, your life as a model life. But all this splendor, and you along with it... it's just as though it were built upon a shifting quagmire. A moment may come, a word can be spoken, and both you and all this splendor will collapse." With routine love comes also a forgetting of the fragility of things. More people than just the nuns are driven to think intensely about the "Maria Problem".

With prolonged steadiness comes a feeling of security. This isn't bad, it's natural. It's only natural to feel safe in familiarity and routine. All you need to do is work at a theme park to realize that behind momentary excitement rests drudgery. Often, relationships that have every reason to work well, simply don't. We could postulate theories all day long as to the whys and hows but that would be fruitless. It would be like trying to know the unknowable. All we must know is that it happens and it is out of our control. And sometimes, just sometimes, a relationship that has absolutely no reason to work, simply does. Let this be a lesson to us all, "You can be as mad as a mad dog at the way things went. You could swear, and curse the fates, but when it comes to the end, you have to let go."

The Baroness played her part well. She realized what had happened and excused herself, "Somewhere out there is a lady who I think will never be a nun. Auf Wiedersehen, darling." She kept her dignity and went on living. I'm positive things turned out well for her.
To be continued...

[Keep following for in my next post I will reveal why toast always lands butter-side down. I wish part 2 was more satisfying, don't you?]