New York, I Love You, I Love You.

A middle-aged man smoking his cigarette outside a fancy restaurant paces back and forward, submerged in a business conversation over his mobile phone. The smoke that escapes his mouth floats wildly in the brisk New York evening air; his trench coat buttoned up to the collar. An important call I gather. An attractive blonde woman comes out of the same restaurant looking for a lighter to begin the surrender to her addiction. She signals him silently and, still engaged in the voice coming from his blackberry, he lights her cigarette. A couple of puffs later (and in his case, a couple of Buy! Buy! Sell! Sell!’s later), he hangs up and she sparks a conversation that turns flirtatious. They discuss the excitement of one-night stands with strangers and how everyone looks for rushes like that.

“After this cigarette I’m going to walk into that restaurant and face my husband, who doesn’t even notice that I’m wearing no bra or panties under this dress.” She reveals that her husband is bored, probably thinking of a younger girl that could satisfy him. The man, now sexually interested in the beautiful blonde asks why she’s telling him all this to which she replies, “because I want it all to end tonight.” She throws her butt out and enters the restaurant leaving the businessman alone in the street with nothing but his thoughts and that chilly evening breeze.

What I just wrote is my interpretation of a scene from the movie “New York, I Love You.” Like it’s counter part “Paris, je t’aime,” the movie involves many well known directors and writers collaborating to give their views on love in a particular city; in this case, New York. Now before you get the barf bag out I must assure you that all the stories are not your typical love story. In fact, they all explore the grey areas of love that still leave you breathless. So why, out of all the stories, did I choose to write about the businessman and the blonde? Well, because it made me realize something that I now know I’ve been fearing. And……enter deep monologue………..now.

Oh Girls. Oh Relationships. Oh the Mortality of Love! In the last 3 years of my life I’ve gathered in my heart countless relationships with the female sex, all of which lasted no longer than a month. Besides some good conversations and events that require less conversations (wink), none have been able to help me conquer my fear; not of commitment, as I had previously thought, but of what the blonde girl was saying.

“You suck in bed! FYI!”

No no. Not that blonde girl! (and for the record, she just said that out of anger because I said she looked ravishing, to which she thought I was referring her to a vegetable….blondes. True story.) I’m talking about the one from the movie. Focus people! Now where was I? Oh yes. I’m scared of waking up one day next to the girl of my dreams and realizing that I can’t even write a poem about her anymore. I’m scared the flames that lead us to make out wildly in a subway station will be no more than ashes within 5 years time. And there I’d be, sitting in our lovely home in front of our fake fireplace while she runs around town sharing smokes with strangers. And I’d damn them and their lighters through my blogs! Or I guess, to keep this entry connected with the movie, I’d be sitting in a restaurant while my wife flirts fucken furiously (alliteration bitches) with a stranger. Before this movie, I guess I was looking for someone to persuade me differently. But as you can see from the blonde (not from the movie) and all the others, I have yet to be assured.

…Until now! (Didn’t see that one coming did you?).


The businessman enters the restaurant and walks towards his table. He observes his wife patiently waiting for his return and for the first time he sees her, the way he did when they first met. He gives her a kiss before taking his seat and she smiles at him. It’s as if something changed or better yet, it’s like they were strangers discovering one another again for the first time. It’s then that the audience realizes that the blonde woman is the businessman’s wife. Enters a montage of the couple smiling in conversation over their dinner accompanied by soft orchestrated happy music. Beautiful.