Shakespeare: Love is indeed not time’s fool  

When Lucas was in his senior year at the University of Wisconsin, in Madison, Wisconsin, Mia taught comparative literature to his class. During the lectures, Lucas absolutely loved the way Mia spoke. When he attended her lectures, Lucas felt that her voice was the most relaxing sound he could hear. He was smitten almost from the time he met her. Lucas was 24 years old and Mia was 38 – 14 years his senior – but despite their age difference, he was drawn to her tremendously. He loved the way she did things and how she explained things. He knew her schedule. He knew that during the school year, she delivered lectures to senior students on Wednesdays and Fridays, and so he always made a point of attending her class and to never be absent on days when she lectured. Indeed, he always arrived early and sat in the front row hoping to see Mia as up close as possible. One Wednesday after class, Lucas saw Mia sitting by herself in the university dining hall, having a cup of coffee, and asked her if he could join her. Much to his pleasant surprise, she said “yes,” and he sat and started a conversation with this wonderful lady, the object of his attention and his thoughts. He told her that he was one of the senior students in her class and, much to his pleasant surprise, she replied that yes, she recognized him from her classes. “She noticed me!” He thought. Then he asked about her career and what started her on her English literature journey and towards being a lecturer. In all sincerity, Lucas was not all too interested in her professional life; he just needed a way to start the conversation. While Mia was sharing with him her academic experiences, she also mentioned that she had never married because she had never truly fallen in love. Lucas felt at the same time both sad and elated. He felt sad that she had never felt that love, but thrilled that he might have a chance to be that true love that she had never found. As his mind was racing, suddenly Mia’s phone rang, and she had to leave. She was needed in the faculty meeting room. As she left, Mia bid Lucas a gentle good bye, but it seemed to him that there now was a new gentleness, a new soft look in her eyes that Lucas felt that he had not seen before.

That night at home, Lucas couldn’t stop thinking about Mia. That gentle, soft, warm look in her eyes as she bade him goodbye earlier in the day, stayed with him and would not leave him. He worried about their age differences and the fact that she was a lecturer, and he was still a student. “Would she really be interested in a student like me?” he thought. To try to take his mind off of Mia, Lucas decided to go on FindAMateForFree.com and see if someone else might catch his eye. FindAMateForFree.com or (FAMFF.COM as his friends called it) was recommended to him by his friends as a wonderful and FREE site where people go and have a wonderful time meeting people. This site then, he thought, may help him to take his mind off Mia. As Lucas scrolled through the site, before he even noticed anyone else, he happened upon Mia’s profile! Mia? Really? Here on FindAMateForFree.com? He could hardly contain his excitement. He sent her a “friend” request on FAMFF.com, and much to his overwhelming happiness, within minutes she accepted!

That Friday, Mia again lectured to his class. As fate would have it, that day there were only ten students, of which Lucas and three others were sitting in the first row. Mia noticed him right away and asked, “How are you doing? Its Lucas, yes?”

He answered “Yes” quietly, if not a bit somewhat formally hoping to avoid drawing attention from his classmates, but inside he was beyond excited. Inside, he was an erupting volcano of emotion!

When the lecture was over, he again saw that Mia was heading toward the dining hall, and this time he quickly sped up in order to arrive there before she did. Once she arrived at the dining hall, Lucas asked whether she would again possibly join him for a cup of coffee and possibly a snack and, again much to his tremendous happiness she again agreed! As she sat down to eat with him, Lucas could not help but notice how gently her hair fell around her shoulders. How softly her eyes looked as her gaze softly looked to see where she would sit. During their conversation, little by little they began to get to know each other more. Lucas found her company captivating and found it easy to share his feelings with her. He could tell that she was surprised, and because she didn’t know how to respond, she seemed to blush gently and said “thank you” and quietly stood up and left – almost without saying anything. Lucas was both hurt and hopeful. Was it that she also felt the same attraction? Was this a strange yet scary feeling for her? Is this why she left so rather abruptly and quietly?

Later that evening, Lucas thought “what the heck? Its now or never” so he sent her an emotional message on FAMFF.com explaining his feelings in more detail. He mentioned that her voice and beauty had endeared her to him, and that he couldn’t stop thinking about her. But he did not immediately receive and answer from her. Days passed, and he sent her messages on FAMFF.com every day, sharing his feelings, but Mia only read them and didn’t reply.

The following Wednesday, Mia again came to deliver the lecture and found Lucas sitting in the same front row seat. She noticed him, looked into his eyes, and for the first time, he saw deep emotion in her eyes. He saw, he felt, love in the way she looked at him.

When the lecture ended, she smiled at him thus converting all of his doubts and worries into sheer joy. He remembered their past gatherings at the dining hall and rushed toward the dining hall hoping to see her there and, much to his wonderful surprise, saw that she was already there, sitting in her usual seat. Mia explained to him that she had the same feelings for him, but that she worried that the age gap between them made a relationship impossible. Lucas took Mia’s hand and said he refused to consider any barriers. He told her that he loved her and wanted to spend his life with her. She agreed, and they began nurturing their love without letting their age difference stop them.

They were both eager to begin their life together and wanted to introduce each other to their families. Mia spoke to her parents, and they agreed to meet Lucas because they trusted her judgment. They were happy that she finally found someone and was finally in love. But Lucas’s parents questioned him about the age difference and felt a small amount of reluctance to meeting Mia. As months went by, Lucas’s parents saw how he and Mia overcame various challenges together, their opinion changed.

One day, Mia was lecturing a class on Shakespeare. She reached a sentence in Sonnet 116 of Shakespeare called “Impediments” which said “Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments. Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds, Or bends with the remover to remove. O no, it is an ever-fixed mark that looks on tempests and is never shaken; It is the star to every wand’ring bark, whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken. Love’s not time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks Within his bending sickle’s compass come.” As she read this, she started to cry. Lucas was right, she thought. And so was Shakespeare. Love is indeed not the fool of time. Love is timeless and not limited by time – even if a person’s beauty and her rosy lips and cheeks may indeed be affected by time, love is not affected by time. Love is eternal and unaffected by time. Love is, Mia thought, what she and Lucas had.

A year and a half after they met, Lucas and Mia were engaged and started planning their wedding. On the two-year anniversary of their first day together in the classroom, they were married and began building a happy life. Love is indeed not time’s fool. Shakespeare was right.