Today when I maybe shouldn’t have been doing so much tweeting and a little bit more working, I saw the most adorable Ross and Rachel graphic (you know Ross and Rachel – that couple on Friends who may or may not have been on a break?) It was a series of screenshots from the finale when – spoiler alert – Rachel got off the plane, and we got to see the two finally get their acts together. The Tweet got oodles and oodles of retweets, but all I could think was, “Ugh, I would never, ever, ever want that.”
That’s right – me, the Friends-obsessed super-nerd, finds nothing romantic about the Ross and Rachel relationship.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m an avid Friends fan who will always agree that Ross is Rachel’s lobster, but I can’t in good conscience romanticize the relationship those two yahoos had, because I’m pretty sure when you look up the word “dysfunctional” in the dictionary, you see a photo of Jennifer Aniston and David Schwimmer as their iconic characters.
Because seriously, who wants to drag out a relationship with the supposed love of their life for ten whole years? Who wants someone as jealous as Ross, or as flighty as Rachel? Who wants to wait until their shared child is two-years-old before they actually get together for good? Who wants an entire relocation to France to be what makes you and your S.O. see that you were meant to be together?
It’s just nothing I could ever do, and I wouldn’t want to. When (if) I fall in love with someone, I don’t want it to be the juicy drug that I can’t kick; I want it to be like the sun. I want it to be the thing that keeps me warm, the thing that I know rises and sets the same, the thing that is in my life every day but never stops being beautiful.
And I don’t want to get off the plane to show my S.O. how much I love him; I want to have something that makes me not want to get on it at all.
Featured Image via screengrab from Friends.
This is too good! I honestly am so happy that my relationship with my boyfriend isn’t like this. I love how you said, “And I don’t want to get off the plane to show my S.O. how much I love him; I want to have something that makes me not want to get on it at all.” YES. Ross and Rachel’s runaround of a relationship was dramatic and hard to keep up with but it was so rewarding that she got off the plane 🙂
I really recommend you to read the japanese legend of the Red String. I have my Rachel, and we are so over of all the troubles and mistakes we had in the past, that even those experiences are the strong foundation of our relationship right now. Is there so much intimacy when you share your bad and good “you” with somebody, that you feel free.
I really see my relation reflected on Ross&Rachel’s one, and I’m so happy to have that story with such a happy ending. Life is a rollercoaster and you have to appreciate its up’s and downs because there is no sweatness without having tasted bitterness.
Good article and very valid point of view 🙂
“And I don’t want to get off the plane to show my S.O. how much I love him; I want to have something that makes me not want to get on it at all.”
Absolutely perfect!