Slices of Life

By: Jill Pertler

We are in the ‘amore’ season of the year.

Love. Kisses. Hearts. Roses. Romantic cards. Candles. Champagne. A box of chocolates.

On February 14 we celebrate Valentine’s Day. Or, better put, some of us do.

For many years, the day had personal significance to me because I actually had a real life Valentine. He even lived with me. We at meals together, slept in the same bed and made plans for the future. On Valentine’s Day we used to exchange cards and everything. I even received a dozen roses on more occasions than I can remember. We were the real deal.

For 33-plus years, my husband was my Valentine. That maybe sounds boring, but it wasn’t.

Now I observe the day of love from afar. I don’t anticipate roses or chocolates from my sweetie. But I do observe the day of love in another way: I live it vicariously through others.

This year, the couple worth watching is obvious.

They are known as Tay tay and Trav by their closest friends - as well as everyone who’s ever listened to a Taylor Swift album or watched a Kansas City Chiefs football game.

I’ve maybe done both so that makes me somewhat of an expert on the subject.

Travis and Taylor have taken their romance public – very public. Here’s why: they didn’t have a choice. They are both in the category of superstar and lots of people love watching, keeping tabs on, dreaming of and making judgements about their love story - or lack thereof.

At first, I was a bit skeptical myself. The world has made me a cynic. Or maybe the media has done that without any help from the rest of the world at large. Either way, I approached the T and T romance with a grain of salt and a fair amount of doubt as to the reality of it all.

But, I’ve been won over.

Not that it matters in the least.

What I think – what anyone thinks – is inconsequential. In the big scheme of things it is about as important as which team won the big game. (But you didn’t hear that from me!)

My favorite Valentine’s couple this year are a public lot. Maybe they chose that lot, maybe not. But either way, love, when real, is magical and miraculous and worth our reverence and gratitude.

Are Travis and Taylor ‘really’ in love? Maybe, maybe not. I like to think so.

I guess it’s human nature to speculate. And hope. And I am truly hoping for them.

Love between any two people is absolutely wondrous. It is also filled with challenges. And those challenges, I think, multiply, when your success is based on a public persona.

But public or not, everyone (repeat that, everyone!) deserves a real, true-life love story. And as far as Travis and Taylor go, I’m rooting for them – every football game and every Grammy Awards Ceremony thereafter.

In the end – and the beginning and everywhere in between – love is all that matters – no matter how famous, or infamous you are. (And yes, that is a joke – the words, not the love.)

Jill Pertler is an award-winning syndicated columnist, published playwright and author. Don’t miss a slice; follow the Slices of Life page on Facebook.