Romantic Moments

Submitted by Samantha Hunter on Fri, 2008-05-30 12:16.

I was talking with a young woman I know who's facing the lifechanging experiences of pregnancy and longterm relationships, and she was noticeably concerned about the dip in romance that comes with both. We talked about it a little, and she joked about how romance novels had built up her expectations for romantic moments (something like "damn your books" -- jokingly, again, we both laughed) but I reminded her that just about all romance novels deal with the very beginnings of relationships, and while our characters experience hardships, it's all in those early days when everything is fresh and new and romance is sort of the name of the game.
But what about later? What about when you're married, the kids come, the bills, and shopping for a refrigerator is the high point of a weekend? Does romance inevitably fade, or just change?
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