Super corny romance that may or may not happen to you in your lifetime

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I’m a dreamer by nature but a realist. too.  When I was 10, I had a dream of living in America as an adult. It seemed like a fun place to be. And I loved how freely people spoke their opinions. Dreamers are usually thinkers, writers and actors, the type of people who don’t believe in giving up on anything. As a young adult, I rewrote my life often just as a fun way to destress. Most people at some point in their lives, think about what they would do differently if they were to relive their lives. As we get older we tend to mentally redo a chapter or two, or a paragraph or so.  Maybe some people rewrite the whole thing. I’ll stick with a chapter or two, I’ve done most of the things I’ve wanted to do in life. And I don’t have much of a bucket list. Often, when people think about things like this, they don’t like to share their ideas for fear of ridicule. People tend to only share “what ifs” with loved ones, because they understand us well enough to know that our characteristics bring us back to reality. They understand our idiosyncrasies. Would you write a chapter, a paragraph or the whole thing? I would never rewrite the whole thing. I’m kind of fond of my husband, my kids, my grandkids and the family I grew up with. I would rewrite certain chapters and paragraphs of my life if I could. I’ve always wanted to be an opera singer, with long shiny black hair, same skin color, but maybe taller, like 6-foot-1 or something! At the end of my scene, I want people to throw roses on to the stage. I don’t care too much about the applause, maybe some “bravos.” I want to go to my dressing room and change into my flowing satin evening gown and leave for a celebratory evening out in my Maserati, no Mercedes, no Bentley – absolutely a Bentley. A chauffeur?  Never. Why would I want a chauffeur when I have a Bentley? I would meet my husband (yes, the same one)! He’s kind of fun to have around. He would drive a Humvee if I let him, but this is my chapter, so he would have to learn elements of sophistication and meet me for dinner in his chauffeur-driven (he’s a terrible driver) Mercedes Benz S Class. That’s $96,000, but hey, what’s money when you’re rewriting a chapter of your life? People relieve stress in diverse ways. Words are important and words are powerful. Sometimes, words can mean the difference between life and death. Words can also be fun if you mish-mash them in the right context. Ten years ago while working at the hospital, a colleague of mine was feeling down. The hours wore on and still no smiles from a lady that would have otherwise been smiling after we walked down the hospital hallway to get our coffee fix. Being peppy by nature, she did not crack a smile. I had to do something. I rewrote a chapter in her life in the most corny, far-fetched way I could imagine. The story was of her, Jacqueline (instead of Jacky), riding on a train to Paris. Opposite her was a sophisticate-looking, elegantly dressed man in a white shirt with expensive cufflinks. He sported mid-length black hair. He was reading a newspaper and, from time-to-time, he turned his head to glare out the window into some far-away place. In the story, my friend wondered about him as she watched him glare out the train window deep in thought.  “Never in a million years would a man like that want a woman like me,” she thought. You all know what I’m getting at. This man will end up being her dream guy and all that corny stuff you find in those cheap romance novels I used to read as a teen. You know, the stories that don’t really happen to an average person. Now, those stories are just funny, so I made one up for my friend and colleague. The story ended when their eyes met. Long story short, they ended up walking on the beach holding hands. The story was named “Super corny romance that may or may not happen to you in your lifetime.” The sequel was to be, “Jacqueline’s affair with the manny.”  The breeze from the ocean blew through her hair as he turned to her to say how beautiful she was in the moonlight. And that she must get away from her life and go live with him in his mansion on the French Riviera at The Cote d’Azur. That’s a little too much romance for me, but it cheered her up. I left the story on her keyboard so she would see it after lunch. I came back in from my lunch break to find her giggling at her desk as she read my story. My other co-workers wanted her to read it aloud and she did. They laughed, my story worked well for everybody that day. She pepped up for the hour we had left to work.  Sharon Hall is editor of Manning Times