Dear reader, my experienced lover’s past embraces the decades of romance, beginning from our clumsy teenage stage and continuing at the magnificent sixties.
Buckle up, and be ready to experience the heartbroken antics
of my past because if there’s one thing that I know it is-
"Laughter resolves everything: even our love life problems."
Get ready for the joys of retelling love-struck folly, as if I haven’t come to realize that everything in matters of heart and soul is much funnier than people think. As you’re soon to be reminded of the naivete and self-delusion that marked my romantic escapades.
Years later I can only conclude bitterly but with a laugh:
Love is always humorous when it comes from left field.
Laughter treats and cures this madness.
Let us turn back the pages of time when acne was my arch enemy and I had a haircut that would scare away any dandelion. The adolescent stage was a time when my concept of romance was gifting my crush an ordinary piece of bubblegum and receiving in return the dreadful look. Love was as rare as a unicorn, and my courting efforts were about a successful attempt at walking on roller skates for a giraffe. 😛
Instagram |Facebook |Youtube |Podcast
Skip ahead to my twenties, although not ‘Great Gatsby-esque’, but rather those that taught me about mixtapes and how presenting my affection with a selection of tracks could be adorable as well as somewhat uncomfortable. But saying “ I love you” with a tape that gradually shifts from Mohmad Rafi to Asha Bhonsle to Nazia Hasan – does it work? 🤔
Who can forget those songs…
“Diwana Hua Badal”, “O Mere Sona Re Sona”, “Abhi Na Jao Chhod Kar” or “Ye Ladka Hay Allah Kaisa Hai Diwana”…. etc.
Talk about the thirties – a time of responsibility where love took second place to mortgage payments and trying to understand how new technologies work. I recall the good old days when we considered the internet a passing trend and communicated through pagers, and carrier pigeons. What would we have done without emojis? 🧐
It added to us the happiness of being parents, or those sleepless nights and endless diaper changes. The meaning of love took yet another shape and form as I struggled alongside my partner to take the perilous oceans. Handling those tiny humans without unintentionally hitting them on their heads.Spoiler alert: We made it, though not without a couple of near misses.
The forties and fifties when a child’s laugh turns into the music of an empty nest. Amid this unexplored reality, love finds itself experiencing an incredible metamorphosis. Welcome to the age of discovery, in which love finds a new expression, and couples travel Bermuda’s untested oceans after rearing their families. 🤪
The forties bring order, as the school drop-offs and soccer practice are gone leaving only memories to cherish. The house now feels eerily silent and overwhelmingly vast. It’s like the universe has given you a megaphone and says, “Okay silly lovebirds; there are your spotlights.”
Having acquired free time, love becomes the discovery of shared hobbies and forgotten passions. Date nights are no longer driven by PTA meetings or nighttime routines but rather a chance to reunite, reminisce and maybe even dance so hard we make fools of ourselves—because what nester cannot shake it?
The 50s arrive and our job changes from active parenting to becoming the sage, slightly odd elders that they roll their eyes at. Love shifts then to a long-distance race of aid, be it career transitions, digital integration or advice that is greeted with an appreciative grin.
Instagram |Facebook |Youtube |Podcast
It is not a mere physical space but an empty nest, which can be the platform for constructing so much more than parental roles – it’s about a love story into the core of being partners and friends. It’s about finding that person you loved all those years ago and realizing, that despite the wrinkles and grey hair, this passion can still be alive.
Of course, there are those times of sadness when you encounter discarded baby pictures or how much less costly is your food bill. However, these pale in comparison with the joy of seeing what incredible adults your children have grown into and how big your heart inflates is a kind of love that propelled their walk.
In the forties and fifties, love is an opportunity to redefine itself not as a burden but rather as the joy of shared experiences, inside jokes which you know only your couple possesses all and the occasional discovery that cooking doesn’t necessarily have mac ‘n’ cheese.
Therefore, to all the empty nesters sailing in this uncharted sea here is your drink saluting you for navigating through the quietness and enjoying every bit of freedom that comes with it and reminding you that love (in one’s forties & fifties) has matured like fine wine. Hooray for the next chapter; may it bring with it more love, laughter and perhaps even an occasional surprise dance party in the living room. 💑🕺💖
Instagram |Facebook |Youtube |Podcast
Now, here we are in the sixties when love means a tapestry created with threads of shared experiences and smile lines along with joint pains (yet to feel it though, based on hearsay 😄). How is love done at this age? Patience, tolerance and the ability to laugh at such things as having date nights around doctor appointments.
Love has been the powerful silk thread that kept everything I was together even if what I was consisted of ill-advised fashion, cringe dance moves and all. So, my dear reader, as you embark on your journey through the labyrinth of love, remember this: though wrinkles may appear, or hair turn grey and lose the lustre of youth, laughter will always be a hidden aspect of love that stands up to adversity.
And thus, with my memories full and a few strokes more than I started with, I toast to love – the kind that spans centuries despite idiosyncrasies as it makes every passing year another episode in life’s cosmic joke.
Love and creases, my friends love and wrinkles. 💖✨
This is all from me about love!
With love,
Neerja Bhatnagar
Instagram |Facebook |Youtube |Podcast
This post is a part of Remembering Love Blog Hop hosted by Manali Desai and Sukaina Majeed
A beautiful narration. Loved the story a lot!
This was so humourous to read! I was stressed when I opened to read this, but forgot about it for a while.
Connection is eternal even the expression evolves over the years! what a lovely narration.
This a humorous post yet filled with so much wisdom through life experiences. You have shown how love has been the thread that has kept everything in order. I wish you lots of laughter, joy & love in the coming years too. Loved the positivity you have displayed all along.
Love changes with time but laughter remains constant. I loved that dandilions like😂
Such a beautiful read. Your post reminded me of my grandparents who were indeed lovebirds in their 58 years together. Seeing them laugh together on their own silly jokes was so cute.
It’s so heartwarming to see you grow with love and experience different shades of love. I agree that love is an emotion that fuels us for every phase of life.
I am just stuck on your line Laughter resolves everything even love life problems. I am in 30s but even the biggest and wildest fight with my husband is resolved not with words but with smiles. I have come to a point where I want to hold my stand longer but he forces me to look into his face and shhooo the fight is over. It is enticing to read all the ages of love. This article has made me excited to see how I am going to experience the love in future.
I married late, so what you did in your thirties, I’m doing in my forties. And I’m not sure if I’ll have the stamina to take care of what the next two decades will bring in. But yes, love may have changed form but not the meaning. It’s the one constant that keeps us moving. Right?
I am sure you will. Things have changed so much and for the better. And yes, love has changed forms but not the meaning.💕
You had me from, “Laughter resolves everything: even the love life problems.” And from then on, the smile on my face remained intact through the entire post. I love how you’ve made us traverse through your journey of love and also taught us so much about through it
🙂🙂.Yes, laughter resolves most of the issues…more so issues about love.
Love never loses its essence be it in any stage of life all that changes is the way we observe it. I loved the way you presented love in different ages which again made me believe that Love is beautiful and it makes life blessed.
Thanku,Samata.
I couldn’t stop laughing while reading this hilarious journey through love’s wrinkles! You have beautifully captured the essence of growing together and finding joy in every phase of life. 💑😂 Love it!
Thanku…happy to be the reason for some of your smiles.
Love has been the powerful silk thread that kept everything I was together — this was such a beautiful line. We generally use memories but I much prefer your word. Love keeps me together. Brilliant!
Thanku Suchita!
Hattss of to your humour. I think your post is truly resemble the blog hop “remembering love”. I enjoyed your post and laughed too. Indeed laughter is the best medicine. And as we experienced different kind of love at different ages.
Thanku Neeta! Felt good to be reasons of some of your smiles. 😊
It’s been a ricochet… Life is so frivolous on the one hand and bloody serious on the other. There’s somewhere you and I can meet…
🙂🙂!
What a beautiful and heartfelt post that me on a roller-coaster journey of life and love. Each decade and it’s nuances and journey has been so beautifully described.
Thanku Zenobia…
You have beautifly crafted each phase of your life with love in a way that every human can relate with it. Like the one compared with mortgage. It is true that love comes with its challenges but the life is beautiful when it is about love.
Thanku Tanvi! I guess you are getting some preview of the things for the future 😄
You made the journey of love so interesting and humorous, Neerja! I can identify with all those milestones. At the moment we are also at the empty nest stage, with shared experiences and laughter lines added on! Let us all raise a toast to love!
Thanku Deepti… Yes, love of togetherness and being there for each other is the greatest treasure of life.
A nice way to see love at different stages of life. We experience love in more ways than one. But we feel it only if we let ourselves feel it. And accept it.
Totally agree 💯!
What a beautiful journey through the ages of love! You way of writing is so vivid, and I found myself smiling and nodding along. It’s heartwarming to see how love evolves and matures with time. Cheers to enduring love, laughter, and the dance parties in the living room!
Thanku Romila.
Love is different at different stages, I am experiencing that. But the your words, as if, you made me aware and also normalize that very fact! Wishing you love always Neerajaji! ❤️🙌
Thanku Nilshree!
This post was truly about remembering love and an ode to love too. How love changes meaning as we age, from high tides of passion in our youth to gentle undulations of shared history and bringing up a family together. I truly feel shared laughter is the best indicator of compatibility.
True , meaning of love changes in different phases of life . I loved the witty take on the subject.
Thanku!
Thanku Preeti! Taking care of relationship is the biggest asset of humanlife. And that’s love 💕.
Nice perspective!
‘haircut that would scare away any dandelion.’ is now my favorite line! 😂 Speaking as someone whose not yet completed their second decade on this planet, and has so much to experience – this post was encouraging and positive. It gives me a newer perspective, and an alternative way to think about the future that sometimes seems so grey to me. Thank you for that. I’ll trust humor to get me through this life now~
I can so identify with your post; facing an half empty nest myself.
I love your light- hearted and humourous take on love. Laughter is indeed the best medicine
Thanku Marietta!