There is a certain thrill to a new romance. It makes your heart thump in your chest and your nerves come to life. It hits you right where the butterflies flutter in your stomach brushing their wings against your sensitive flesh. New romance is like a shiny penny winking at you from among the tarnished ones in nestled in your wallet.

You open your heart to new romance, to new love, and it feels like you’re Julie Andrews happy singing on a mountain top for the world to hear. You don’t have a care in the world – and why should you?

Love can fade, over time it often does but does it have to? After a recent trip away I find myself asking this question and I think the answer is yes.

Hear me out, before you think I’m a cynic. It does fade but that isn’t a bad thing because as the sense of a new romance dulls over time what develops in it’s place is a thing of beauty the romance that began with fluttering butterflies and twirling happiness mellows and like fine wine it deepens to something with a much complex flavor.

Would you trust someone you didn’t love to play out a deep dark fantasy? Maybe, but likely not. It’s the richness of a fully developed relationship that most crave. It’s what we long for on lonely nights. So while the thrill of butterflies can be alluring, it’s the full bodied wine, the rich dark chocolate that makes life sweet.