"I have waited for this opportunity for more than half a century, to repeat to you once again my vow of eternal fidelity and everlasting love." - Florentino Ariza

Because it seemed like a good idea (and also because I was feeling 'literary'), I read Gabriel Garcia Marquez' classic, Love in the Time of Cholera. At first take, the story about a 50-year love triangle between its three protagonists seems preposterous. How the hell can one guy claim to love a woman for that long? And wait the entire duration of the time for her husband to die? Is it worth it? Has he not heard of poison? Ok, the last part is me being impatient...

To be clear, this is not a fairy-tale story about 'true love'. Even though they fall passionately in love and exchange a barrage of love letters, the lovelorn Florentino Ariza is rejected by his Fermina Daza three years into their affair. She eventually chooses to marry the sophisticated Dr Juvenal Urbino. Devastated, Ariza later whiles away his years writing passionate love poems and letters and indulging in 622 affairs while reserving his heart for Fermina.

The romanticism of it and the way that the book was written simply blows me away. The story raised issues of unrequited love, relationships, aging and the idea that suffering for love is a kind of nobility. The skeptic in me wonders; How can a love like this exist? And is it even possible in such fickle times as today, where everyone is constantly looking for their personification of love?

Fifty-one years, nine months and four days - are you committed enough to wait a lifetime for love?