LEIA #11: New Relationships

Sometimes it starts inconspicuously enough; a sudden interest in a new band or a brief case of Mentionitis. You’ll wonder why they’ve stopped the weekly pub outings and yet, are suddenly, suspiciously more broke than usual. Then a friend will drop off the radar for weeks at a time with a hasty “yeah, things are great”, only surfacing for air for once a month. They can spare just a few distracted minutes after your show, leaving after the first round of drinks, back to spending every night at their beau’s pad.

If it’s a housemate, you’ll maybe catch them for a quick cup of tea, or pass them on your way to work. They with the bewildered, happy look that only arises in the first few sleepless months of a love affair; you untangling your headphones and trying not to miss the train, feet firmly grounded in reality. The air around them is different, palpably charged with excitement, affection, pheromones.

New relationships. That brief, picturesque, cherry blossom stage that throws a filter over everything the lovers touch. Duties, responsibilities and commitments fall by the wayside in exchange for a possible trip to Wetherspoons after bae finishes work. The short-lived battle between nerves and hope, accompanied by some much-hyped dates and flurries of digital conversation. Hope winning, surging ahead into ecstasy when they DO like you back and they DID said yes and this really and truly IS happening.

When a new relationship dawns, the happy facts reveal themselves in a flurry – suddenly bursting into vibrant bloom. We like each other, we’re going to be together, this is going to happen! We both love horror movies, you like dogs too, you can cook! The joys are instantly everywhere, surrounding the drab landscape and catching in our hair.

In the future there will be roots to grow and branches to unfurl towards the sky, but for now the new lovers bask in the blossoms. Enjoy every single fleeting petal as it falls to the grass,  trace each individual outline against the sky. And when the branches inevitably hang bare, you can remember what they  looked like tinged with pink and white.