You need not always ‘fall’ in love! You can ‘rise’ in love too. Teenage romance is not always limited to your teens. Myths and stereotypical ideas fall apart this week. How? Read on…

When you feel good about life, it shows. It’s like a bubble beneath the surface that always looks to come out. It’s a joy that you feel you can’t contain. You feel you must share your joy with people around you, to touch their lives with this happiness that is now yours. Rachael is the happiest amongst us by far. She’s got a great mate in Charlie. Her grades made an unexpected upswing. I say unexpected because it’s believed that when you fall in love, the fall in your grades gives it away! But none of those myths for Rachael. She’s doing better.

Recently Liz, her mom and my sister, invited her colleagues over for dinner. On the day, she took ill and had to really take a grind to get things ready. Rachael used her brains to plan things out for her. She made sure things got efficient, saving Liz a lot of effort. This timely help earned Rachael a lot of kudos from her mom as well as her colleagues. Of course, Liz enlightened them how Rachael bailed her out. The bonding between them is all the more strong now, what with both of them cruising along to be best friends.

Does teenage romance really has something to do with being teens? I mean, there are certain aspects that we associate with teenage romance. Like day dreaming, impossible romantic fantasies, sweet nothings and a strong preference of hugs over kisses. The last one isn’t my view. Frank told me so. He feels that after his marriage with Eleanor, he finds a new zest in life. This is exclusively because of the loving bond that they share. “I never felt that life had stored away so much happiness for me!” he told me with a smile that could only be described as ‘blessed’.

Frank also told me that they hug a lot. “Do you know that hugs are medically known to be great for the mental state of a person?” he asked me with genuine concern. I didn’t have the heart to say I knew. There was something so moving about the way he asked me. He went on to say that he feels the tugs of teenage romance again in his ripe age. “It’s like going home, you know,” he told me, “I feel so young again!” I nodded happily. I must say Frank is a special person. He’s really lucky to have met someone like Eleanor. Sometimes I wish they had actually spent a lifetime together.

Just a week earlier I had written that it’s a big surprise for our friends that Steve actually manages to remember all the things that Natalie asks him to pick up. And this week they had a fight over it! Steve generally notes things down in his PDA. But that little second brain of his took a tumble because of all the new things my friend tries on it! It had to go to the mechanic, leaving Steve at the mercy of his forgetfulness! As expected by us and as not expected by Natalie, who only knows him for some months now, he forgot to pick up some important stuff.

Natalie got mad because her babies can’t really wait for Steve when they are hungry. Steve felt bad about the whole thing. And why not? Here he was making a genuine effort to help his special friend out. He deserves all the encouragement and appreciation. When things cooled down, Natalie understood her rashness. She talked it out with Steve. They did what you call a &#8220kiss and make up&#8221. Last heard, they were planning to go out this weekend. I’m glad they didn’t add to the list of bickering couples. We have enough of them, right?

Whoever talked about the world having a grand design was probably right. Things happen unexpectedly, but when they do, you get this feeling that you have been unknowingly waiting for it to happen. No, I have not gone bonkers and dishing you half-cooked philosophy. Allow me to let you in then. I was supposed to send a mail to a friend of mine whose name is Sara. I did a typo on the email id and sent it to someone called Sarah. I was unaware of this cross connection till Sarah wrote back to me. She obviously guessed there is a mistake.

I apologized for the error and wished her a happy life. She wished me back with a smiley. This got me interested. I wrote back to her with a casual conversation. And then one mail led to another. Before I knew it, we had spent a whole day exchanging mails! Things spilled over to online chats. I’m online most of the time on a messenger id I created just for Sarah. She writes excellent English, folks! I’m taking extra precaution to write ‘because’ and not ‘bcoz’ when I chat with her. Stay with me on this. This could be interesting!

Here’s a Zen quote by Lisa Hoffman that will make Steve, Rachael and all you science buffs proud: “Love is like pi — natural, irrational, and very important.” What say?