Crazy Little Thing Called Love

"My life is better left to chance. I could have missed the pain, but I'd of had to miss the dance" - Garth Brooks

Tonight I walked up to my apartment building hearing screams. A woman in her 70s had her new Land Rover parked in the middle of the street in front of my building. She screamed at her husband loud enough to wake the block. He had taken her keys and left her and her SUV helpless in the middle of the road. She cried and demanded her the keys back.
"Give me my f***ing keys" she screamed. She looked right at me, "call the cops" she ordered.
Instead, I watched the scene unfold.
This elderly couple continued to argue in the lobby, while the wife was sobbing. I never heard the husband speak; he instead held the keys behind him with a greedy grin that read, "I have control, you will listen to me."
I sneaked around the couple and left the mad-house to my doorman who seemed unfazed.

I went to my apartment and opened the window. I have a second floor window that sits perfectly above the building entrance. I recruited my roommate to join me for the show.

"Give me my keys" the woman was still sobbing uncontrollably. The elderly man pushed his wife against the side of the building as she continued to grab for the keys. Back and forth they shoved and hit each other until the doorman took the woman and walked her to her car to let her drive off.

Blair and I sat and stared at the empty street. How did that just happen? These people are actually married??? They are 70... maybe even 80 years old and they are acting like violent children. I couldn't help but wonder: Is it really worth it? What brought them together in the first place and what happened for them to lose what they use to love?

The great country singer, Garth Brooks, says in one of his songs:
Looking back on the memory of
The dance we shared 'neath the stars alone
For a moment all the world was right
How could I have known that you'd ever say goodbye

And now I'm glad I didn't know
The way it all would end the way it all would go
Our lives are better left to chance I could have missed the pain
But I'd of had to miss the dance


Is Brooks right? Are our lives better with pain then to miss the chance to actually love?
Jen Schefft, the author of Better Single than Sorry, doesn't agree with Brooks.
She teaches, we are strong, independent woman. We don't need men to make us happy.
True Jen, that's like saying I don't need chocolate to make my life complete, but it makes me happy. By the way, Jen Schefft is also known as Jen from both The Bachelorette and The Bachelor thanks to ABC reality TV. She has been engaged twice on national TV and yet to be married.....but she is happy!

So whats the verdict? Who is right?
Was Shelby from Steel Magnolia right when she said, "I would rather have thirty minutes of wonderful than a lifetime of nothing special?" If I remember right, Shelby didn't have an abusive husband that knocked her around in the lobby of her Manhattan apartment building.

I'm definitely not saying I know the answer. I'm sure each relationship is different.
Tonight, after we witnessed the elderly couple fight in the lobby, I got on the elevator with a young couple. The guy look at his wife and said, "Wow, looks like we don't have much to look forward to in married life."
I hope he is wrong.