While watching and crying hysterically as Noah and Ally progressively fell madly, deeply and completely in love in one summer, I thought to myself, Could something like this happen in real life? The Notebook may be the perfect depiction of a fairy tale summer fling turned into a magical love story, but does this kind of stuff ever really happen? When it comes to summer flings, are they supposed to last or just give us someone to occupy our time in the sun with?
Lindsay, fellow JMU student and a friend of mine, says that summer flings are exciting because, “It’s something you rush into right away. Whether it’s love or lust, the attraction is there and it’s something that comes quickly and out of nowhere – like love at first sight.”
Her summer fling story is romantic, fun and light: Lindsay met John at the country club where she worked and he was a member. After her first two weeks working there, John approached Lindsay and asked for her number. Shortly after, they started texting. They got along really well and decided to go out for ice cream one day. Lindsay said they immediately hit it off and became best friends with sexual chemistry.
“We literally did everything together,” she said, “I saw him everyday at the country club! We would go on day trips to the beach a lot and basically never left each other’s side.” Lindsay described her summer fling as the perfect relationship because they never fought and didn’t have to talk about “serious stuff.” “It was all about fun! We didn’t find it necessary to talk about dating because we both knew it was unrealistic.”
As the summer came to a close, so did their fling. Still, Lindsay says she will never regret it. “I wasn’t sad when it was over because I anticipated the end,” says Lindsay, “But it was something I won’t soon forget, I have so many memories from that summer.” Lindsay and John still talk occasionally and look forward to hanging out this summer. (Maybe they’ll rekindle that old flame…?)
While Lindsay’s relationship seems like a dream come true, not all summer flings can be so perfect. When feelings and emotions get involved, it can be hard to remove yourself from the fling and move on without feeling sad. Lindsay was lucky because she and John both understood that what they had was a summertime romance only; they didn’t try to make it something it wasn’t.
For others that are not so lucky, feelings end up getting hurt and decisions are made that you may have never anticipated you would make. Take for instance my friend Courtney. Courtney was a girl I knew my freshman year that ended up not returning back to JMU her sophomore year. I sought out Courtney while writing this article because I knew she was the perfect example of a summer fling gone wrong.
Courtney decided to stay in her home state of New Jersey instead of coming back to JMU solely based on the fact that she did not want to leave her new love interest, Kevin. “My decision to stay home and transfer was only because I was so wrapped up with Kevin,” Courtney tells me, “I never thought I would leave JMU and I miss it more than anything. Transferring is my biggest regret to this day.”
Talking to Lindsay and Courtney, I realized that summer love is all about the way you look at it. If you don’t take it too seriously and keep a realistic mindset, a summer fling could be fun and not leave you feeling that your life is over when it’s over. Looking back at Ally and Noah’s relationship in The Notebook, I’ve come to the conclusion that, Yeah… that’s probably not going to happen to most of us; but hey, that’s no reason not to meet someone this summer and see what happens!