Today marks the final installment of a three-part mini-series exploring those ever vexing matters of the heart, as St. Valentine’s Day weekend looms before us. “You Don’t Know Me” told of love that might have been if the smitten one had expressed his/her intentions before it was too late. “Chances Are” seems far more encouraging, but stops short of making any serious commitments. This week’s selection speaks of love that has survived an arduous and perilous journey, inviting that benedictory, albeit grossly cliched refrain — “And they lived happily ever after.”
Those pierced by Cupid’s arrow for the first time often proceed with unbounded enthusiasm, undeterred by fear or doubt. Far more are all too acquainted with that unpleasant, but heavily trodden road that leads from rapt exhileration to crushing disappointment. To open oneself to experience true romance yet again represents a triumph of hope over fear, doubt and cynicism.
We all know those who try again and again, changing significant others more frequently than they do their vehicles. At one end of the spectrum is Glynn “Scotty” Wolfe, who during his 88 year life was married 29 times, leaving behind 28 ex-wives and 1 widow. And on the other is the unforgettable Miss Havisham, the long-suffering, grieving and jilted bride in the Charles Dickens’ classic, “Great Expectations.”