somebody's reading pride and prejudice

we women always get incredibly self-inspecting about relationships when we read Austen. which is good.  I think Romeo and Juliet do have a spark that catches them on fire, i think they also have circumstances, like the serious backdrop of family violence, and the fact that they are fifteen,  that allow them to be self-centered and rash. I think maybe we all feel that spark, but we learn to bed it down, keep it more like  a pilot light on a stove burner.  I dunno though, i think guns blazing is necessary in the beginning. i think maybe it's a precautionary measure, or something born of biology, to consume and pre oocupy us until it's too late. it is the love born from attraction and fate and all that other stuff that new age and self improvement books explain to us happens when we meet the right person. maybe it's the way they smell. maybe our blood types call out to each other. who knows? whatever it is, that heady, crazy feeling is what we need to sustain us, what we need to look back on the next time we're pressing our nails into our palms out of frustration for one more stupid wednesday fight. love can't stay a flame, it'll burn down our houses, but we should learn to use it to keep the place warm.