This Holiday season, I have spent most of my time watching Hallmark movies. I’ve watched them alone, with my father when he would enter the room to see his favorite channel playing, and with my entire family including my sister and mother who are disgusted by all the cheesiness within them. Even as I write this, I am half watching the Hallmark movie on my Grandparents’ TV screen
It’s been a tradition for me for a while to spend at least a good 75 percent of the time to watch a constant stream of Hallmark movies over the Holiday season to fill my heart with warm fuzzy feelings that can keep me in a good mood until I have to return back to school. One of the most important thing that I have essential to the plot of any good Hallmark movie, though, is love.
Love within a Hallmark movie often comes in a multitude of forms, most of which I can relate to.
I have the love of my friends. In a Hallmark movie, the main character usually has a best friend whom they rely on to help them through any situation.They are always there to have a great conversation. I am lucky enough that I have several people who fill this role of love in my life and I would hope most people are lucky enough to have at least one person.
I have the love of my family. In a Hallmark movie, most characters rely on a family, even if not their own for an unconditional sort of familial love. My family has always supported me in my decisions of what to pursue in life. I know this is not always a universal, however.
The thing, however, that truly makes a good Hallmark movie, is the romance. My cousins and I have noticed a consistency with the Hallmark movies dealing with the romances in them. Usually, there is a not-boyfriend character who the female protagonist starts out with and then a future “perfect” (quotations because no one is perfect) boyfriend who everyone who watches knows she will end up with at the end of the movie on their way to get married.
No this is not every Hallmark movie I know, but my favorites usually go along this plotline and my cousins and I have even made it into a game to find “Future Boyfriend” and “Not-Boyfriend.”
This is the love I am not yet familiar with, though. I’m not saying I haven’t fallen in love before. I have and I have loved very deeply, but to be honest, love has never been very kind to me in the romantic sense. I’m still going through all the “Not-Boyfriends” to find the “Future Boyfriend.” My search, to be completely honest, is not going very well (It’s also not my only quest, but one of a million, as getting married and making babies is not the only thing I want in life. Sorry “My Big Fat Greek Wedding!).
I know I’m not the only person who has these struggles of trying to find true love (which I do believe exists, even if not on the first try). It doesn’t help that as a college student, I’ve started to notice a lot of the kids I went to high school with and my college friends beginning to settle down and it’s the same for many people my age. We begin to feel pressure and wonder should we be settling down as well?
I remember talking with one my friends this summer after a mutual friend got engaged. We’re both 19 and to at least myself, while I may legally be an adult, I certainly don’t feel like one. I still call my mother when I’m home before going out shopping to ask permission to do so.
Within Hallmark movies, however, most of the characters they focus on are all about 30 or are past 30 when they begin to settle down. That gives me hope. Perhaps finding “Future Boyfriend” is perhaps not something I or anyone has to worry about right now.
Going through “Not-Boyfriends” can take a while. That’s really fine. Not everything is going to be Hallmark movie perfect with romance. It may take more than a couple tries. For some, it may be a long journey for “Future Boyfriend” and for some, they may just not be interested in settling down anyone, and that’s perfectly okay. For those who are looking, though, just remember, wherever you are in life, you’ll be fine and have trust and some faith that you will find “Future Boyfriend” someday.
