Full disclosure -I watch “The Bachelorette “ . I’m not a regular fan, I tend to skip a season here and there. It’s formulaic, silly, a distraction in these upside down times.

What a concept – here is a girl, given a pick of a couple dozen “bachelors”, they have cocktail parties, go on exotic dates, group and one-on-one “chats” where they get to know each other on a much deeper level, make out a lot, and through elimination over a number of weeks, (who will get a rose, he should get a rose, come’on I can’t believe didn’t get a rose, how could she not choose him?!) they narrow it down to a final two, she makes the excruciating decision and the guy ultimately gives her a honkin’ Diamond ring (which she can hang on to if they stay together at least a year). A normal process, always leads to true love and marriage right?

This season was going to be THE season, the most mature bachelorette ever (at the age of 39) … the guys ranging in age from 29 -39, which in all honesty is not such a bad thing, given the stats (and my 83 year old mother’s estimation, the husband SHOULD be younger than the wife, when you see all the lone widows around her, but I digress…). This was gonna be good.

But guess what? The bachelorette promptly went and fell in love on the first night, having some weird cosmic connection, she could not stop going on and on about him, how she had met her husband, sneaking away to have time with this guy any chance she got. There was drama from the other guys, what the heck was going on, could this really be happening, and on and on. So the season that was supposed to be “mind blowing” – was so disappointing, honestly. I was getting so annoyed with our heroine, gushing over this fellow, falling in love at first sight, rather embarrassed for her. Love isn’t a Harlequin romance (I gave those books up at 14).

Now I wonder though, if I am just being so judgey. An old judgey woman? I am one of the lucky ones, I met my husband when I was young, we’ve been together forever. We can almost finish each other’s sentences, each other’s thoughts. And we watch this show – TOGETHER. We laugh about it, and he tells me he gets a kick out of my reactions and what I chirp out at the TV because I’m such a crackup you know. I don’t know what I’d be like at 39 after a series of broken relationships, still looking for my elusive soulmate.

Why shouldn’t we believe in love, that it can be this quick connection that can last a lifetime? What about you, what’s your story?