To have loved and lost...

Have you seen the McDonald's commercial for the Angus Chipotle BBQ Bacon burger? A guy takes a bite of his burger and drops some sauce on a napkin. Then the voice over person says..."It's better to have loved chipotle and lost some, then to never have loved chipotle at all."

Every time I hear that, I just wanna scream "NOOOOOOOOOO! Don't fall for it! You will regret it!"

To understand my intense reaction to, what may seem to you, a seemingly harmless commercial, you have to understand that I have once loved...and lost. It wasn't a simple love. It was a madly, deeply, truly kind of love. The intensity of my passion cannot be summed up into words here. I won't even try. You'll just have to imagine it for yourself.

I didn't set out to fall in love. In the beginning, I honestly didn't think anything would come of the encounter at all. It was just supposed to be a harmless indulgence. Well, maybe not completely harmless. There was some part of me that knew it was wrong on a certain level. There are always consequences for our actions. Some of the risks were already well known to me, but love? No, the risk of love didn't enter my mind. Perhaps if I had stopped to consider beforehand that there was even a chance I'd fall so deeply and so quickly, I would have walked away before the obsession began. Instead, I wandered blindly into what turned into love at first... bite.

Oh, BK Angry Whopper! Why did you do this to me? I lived most of my life without you. I should be able to live the rest of it just as easily now that you are long gone. Still your memory mocks me. In moments of weakness, I find myself longing for what can never be.

:::deep cleansing breath:::

I am strong. I will survive despite knowing that I will never again experience the pleasure of that burger again. And I've learned a great lesson from my loss. No longer will I allow myself to feel so strongly about something so temporary. My heart has been hardened. I can't - I won't allow myself to enjoy another burger as fully as I did my precious Angry Whopper, but that is a good thing. I know now that "limited time" romances are never worth the pain and regret that inevitably comes when the promotion is pulled away.

Besides...it's much healthier to get the salad anyway. :)