Imagine if you could have an application for your potential partner. For those of you who are absolute Type A’s, this may sound like a completely logical solution, cutting to the chase by basically applying for compatibility in search of the right fit.  This is the premise of a book I read this summer, “The Rosie Project.” The main character manages to take the love out of love, leaving just the logic, as he creates an application for his ideal girlfriend. However, he ultimately finds that love is not always logical. What we think we want isn’t always what we actually want or what fits. 

What makes up the “perfect fit” – personality, compatibility, similar interests? If that’s the case, whatever happened to the idea of opposites attracting? Similarities can get quite boring after a while, and having different interests can be a great way to explore new things. Having everything so similar can add to the monotonous nature of monogamy, something that a successful relationship can combat. While comfort is nice, it’s important to keep things interesting and new. 

Sometimes what we think we want isn’t always what is best for us. Successful relationships aren’t plotted or planned, and our lives don’t always go the direction we intend. Take my mother, for example, who moved to Boston adamant on not marrying and ended up falling for an Irishman, just as my Italian grandmother said she would. And how would my father have ever known that the woman who asked him if he wanted to, and I quote,“get a baked potato sometime,” would end up being his wife (by the way, good line, Mom?). Their path turned out to be anything but predictable, and who would’ve predicted that they ever would’ve crossed paths to start? Nothing to it was logical; it was just love. 

(Spoiler Alert): For those of you dying to know, The Rosie Project takes a turn as the main character soon finds that he falls for the unexpected, turning this application project from “The Wife Project” to “The Rosie Project”.   The application process of “The Rosie Project” not only takes the spontaneity out of love but also takes the fun out of it as well. We laugh, we cry, we fight and we love, all of it makes us stronger, and the relationship just may be worth it. And as it turns out; love isn’t all that logical after all.