Lucky in Love Blog Hop

Lucky in Love? Well, are you? It's a time of luck and wealth...or not. With each romance we find ourselves in a new world of love and memories. Are these just by chance? Is it luck? Welcome to your second annual Lucky in Love Blog Hop where we want to hear about your love, your romance, and how much you love St. Patrick's Day!  Are you wearing green? Ready to get pinched...or wait...do you like that? I do...depending on who's doing the pinching. *wink* 

Almost 300 bloggers have giveaways and posts about those men we love! 

But that's not all....

We have TWO grand prizes. You as a reader can go to EACH blog and comment with your email address and be entered to win. Yep, you can enter over 200 times!

Now what are those prizes?

1st Grand Prize: A $100 Amazon or B&N Gift Card

2nd Grand Prize: A Swag Pack that contains paperbacks, ebooks, 50+ bookmarks, cover flats, magnets, pens, coffee cozies, and more!

And on this blog, Kisses, Caresses & Whispers in the Night, I'm giving away a $25 gift card to Bath and Body Works.  
Why did I choose that?  Because it's spring and, I don't know about you, by my skin needs some pampering. Ha.
Comment to be eligible to win both here and for the grand prizes! 

Madness

by Amber Lea Easton

I married an Irishman.  Okay, well, he was part Irish and part Italian, yet an all American boy. The first time I met him, I thought he was the biggest jerk I'd ever seen.  My friend Molly and I were at a bar--it may be cliche, but it's the truth--and we were intent on getting wild. Yes, that was normal for us...we were in our 20s, worked hard and played harder.  In walks Sean and his buddies.  I didn't know them and didn't want to either.  They looked like a cocky bunch and I immediately judged them all as players .  Molly and I did our best to avoid them all, but somehow (tequila) I ended up with Sean on the dance floor.  From the dance floor, we ended up mashed up against the wall making out like no one else existed in the room.  Wow, that man could kiss.  

We got kicked out.  Apparently, we knocked a few people over in our drunken stumbling and kissing.  Of course, I blamed him (and tequila) and stormed off with Molly.  I never knew his name...but felt like I'd made a big mistake by walking away.  

That kiss haunted me all of the next week so I convinced another friend, Tanja, to go back to the bar looking for the mystery guy.  (You gotta love friends who go along with plans like this, right?) I knew this was a long shot, understood that the guy was probably a player and a big jerk...but that kiss...I couldn't stop thinking about that kiss.  

So Tanja and I returned the next weekend determined to find this guy.  You see, I lived in Denver and he lived in Dillon, which is an hour away--or at least I assumed he did, for all I knew he could have been a tourist, but I needed to take a chance.  Tanja and I drove the hour back up the mountain, stayed in a hotel and made it a girls' weekend.  The first night up there...no sign of him or his band of merry men.  The second night...jackpot!  As soon as he entered the bar, he saw me.  That was that.  

We were engaged three weeks later...married six months almost to the day of our meeting.  

My Sean, my crazy love

But love is madness, it makes us all do crazy things.  He and I had a volatile relationship (not abusive)--intensely passionate.  I actually kicked him out of the car on the freeway once because he made me so angry.  Somehow he still managed to beat me home, which only made me more annoyed.  He'd love me no matter how ridiculous I'd behave, how dramatic or irrational.  I'd love him even when he was so infuriating I didn't know what possessed me to say "I do".  You should have seen this guy's smile...even when I was soooooooooo mad, he'd give me a smile and a wink and I'd start smiling, too.  See?  Infuriating.  Must have been the luck of the Irish or the charm of the Italian in him, I don't know.  But it was definitely madness.

When I think of all the romances in my life, I think they all involved a touch of lunacy that I wouldn't trade for anything in this world.  What do I mean by that?  It's composed of the following...
That pull of desire that makes us drive all night on zero sleep just to see that special smile...
the leap of our heartbeats at his name on the caller ID...
the smile on our lips first thing in the morning because we wake up happy for no reason we can name...
the irrational leap when the phone rings because we crave the sound of his voice...
the impulse to abandon common sense for just a chance--a risk--to have it all... 
the tears in our eyes when he says, "I love you" for the first time.  

It's irrational that we can tolerate ridiculousness and complete idiocy from one person and not another.  It doesn't make sense that we can see someone at their absolute worst and want to hold him rather than punch him (hopefully).  It defies logic that we'll share our sandwiches, switch our favorite sides of the bed, alter our schedules or redefine our idea of comfort zones for one special person.  Why do we do that? Why would we?  

Madness, I say. Sheer, utter, delightful, blissful madness (aka love).  

Have you gone mad for love? Have you felt that utter rush of joy when your gaze met his and you knew--absolutely knew--you were loved?  If not, I hope you do one day because it's worth it.  If so, then you know what I mean. A touch of madness is good for a person when it's all about love. 
  
(remember to leave a comment with your email address to be eligible for the giveaways.)