The Whirlwind Romance

  I don’t know if any of you have ever experienced a whirlwind romance or had times when you were living in the moment. I have. Around 7 weeks ago I started having a little go at living in the moment and I discovered that it didn't really suit me. Living in the moment is all well and good when you don't find functioning hard work. 7 weeks ago I was equilibriumised and my feelings centred around Emmerdale and Heinz baked beans at the end of a long day… until I found myself in the middle of a whirlwind romance.

  I'm not altogether sure how I, careful as they come, avoiding pavement cracks, would never walk underneath a ladder Helen Edwards came to be in a whirlwind romance. Whirlwind romances go against everything I have taught myself is sensible. The whirlwind romance is quick, it is convincing and then it is over. By the time it is over it has left your hair tangled up and you've quite forgotten that Emmerdale was once so fabulous because you rediscovered butterflies in your stomach and hours spent laughing over absolutely nothing in the company of someone who looks just like sunsine. The whirlwind romance reminds you that there are actual human connections for you out there and Heinz baked beans don't necessarily have to be the best part of a day.

   The best part of your day can be a hug or a smile. It can be breakfast on a sunny morning and you don't even mind staying in on a Saturday night because the company inside is so comfortable and cosy. You have this happy feeling in your chest when you're with your friends, you just feel lighter and you don't have to carry all of your own bags anymore. The whirlwind romance is a special thing because it takes two people who click instantaneously to take part and they can create something truly delightful very quickly. It's like a very sweet film has come on and somehow it's your life, you've got the leading lady part and the soundtrack is wonderful. Whirlwind romances generally have a difficulty of some description though and in the film version the writers know how to fix it but in real life the actors don't have a script to rely on and they can't be sure of what the other person they're starring alongside is thinking. Life isn't a film and humans are riddled with insecurities, upsets and histories that the people in The Holiday or Love Actually aren't in possession of.

  Humans get things wrong when they're trying to get things right. Humans have self preservation to think about and humans who've been hurt very badly are a lot more likely to get these things wrong so we back away from our whirlwind romances. We remember when we just had ourselves to think about and we make the decision to end the romance, lovely as it is because we miss the simpler version of our lives. And then we regret it and realise that we didn't help ourselves at all because we were just biding time with Emmerdale and Heinz baked beans until the really good stuff showed its beautiful face. Emmerdale and Heinz all together along with Coronation Street, Spanish lessons on the couch and long car journeys on Sundays.

  The writers of the film version have the solution but the humans bumble along and eventually one of them gets on a plane and feels a finality that makes a tear slide down her little face as she gets closer to all of the other people who mean the world to her. They're great and she loves them but she will always remember the time in her life when Emmerdale, Heinz Baked Beans and Coronation Street were all happening at the same time in her pretty living room and she'll wonder if she'd not caved in when she did that everything just might have turned out differently if she'd just stayed in the whirlwind.