I think I was ten years old when I started watching the very first season of The Bachelor.

Back then, I used to start a lot of television series, most too mature for my age but as I didn’t have cable, I watched whatever I found. It just took one flashy, interesting promo to catch my eye and I gave the pilot a chance. It worked for One Tree Hill, Desperate Housewives, and Grey’s Anatomy, shows I started when they very first began. A couple seasons in and each obsession fizzled out after a while, due to one bizarre plotline or another. One Tree Hill and Desperate Housewives both fast-forwarded some years, leaving plot holes and mysteries I was no longer interested in solving. Grey’s Anatomy lost a loyal follower after I was severely traumatized by a season finale.

All for the better, I suppose, because these days I don’t have much time to watch television. However, one show has stuck with me since the very first episode: The Bachelor and The Bachelorette series.

I remember the first promo – the gorgeous women, the handsome man, the now nearly-iconic image of the bachelor standing in front of a beautiful tropical sunset – it would suck me into the show now every bit as it did then.

Today, 11 years, 17 bachelors and 9 bachelorettes later, I am still a dedicated watcher. I’ve seen the craziest of the cat fights, the funniest of the bromances and very few fairy tales come true. But, like the millions of other women out there who still watch, and the thousands who try to be a part of the Bachelor/ette “family” every year, I have remained a faithful follower of the show supposedly dedicated to the pursuit of true love.

Why do we do it? Why do we dedicate two hours a week to watch ridiculous people make fools of themselves on national television over a silly rose? Why hasn’t the famed ABC series yet lost its touch?

Because at the bottom of it all, everybody wants to see a good love story.

I’m not saying the show is the perfect match.com for relationships. It’s not even close, actually, and the success rate between the two shows is a whopping 2 marriages. (3, if you want to count when Jason Mesnick dumped Melissa Rycroft on the “After the Final Rose” special to choose runner-up Molly Malaney.) No, I’m not saying we watch the show because of the strength of the relationships rolling out.

It’s the journey itself. It’s the idea. The idea that just one coincidence, one right moment, two people in the same place at the same time, can lead to something beautiful. Can lead to something real.

How do you find true love? Have you found true love? If you have or if you haven’t, who are you to question other people’s right to find it?

Sure, there are some crazy -(insert your choice of inappropriate noun here)- who show up wanting nothing more than their 15 minutes of fame and maybe a fabulous trip to somewhere cool. Typically, every season has that one blown-out-of proportion villain and victim. Yes, the producers are a little over-the-top with their unnecessary need to add obnoxious drama into every episode. And as we all know, most of the time, we do not always agree with every choice the Bachelor or Bachelorette makes.

But I firmly believe that most people on this show want the same things as you and me: the chance to meet someone who could change their life.

Happy coincidences happen every day. The guy you meet in biology, the girl who smiles across the room at a party, you can try denying it but you’re always on the look out for that person. This television series is an extreme case of serendipity, but in the end if it works out, it’ll make one hell of a story won’t it?

We watch because we believe it can happen. We want nothing more than to believe that it takes one chance of a rose ceremony for a guy and a girl to meet and a magical fairy tale story to unravel.

The Bachelor/ette series may only have one true successful marriage, but in an age where you can pull hope from just about anything, one should be enough. Trista Rehn, the first Bachelorette, met her prince charming in firefighter Ryan Sutter. A coincidence? Yes. A happy one? Absolutely.

The reason why I keep watching? You bet. If it can happen once, it can happen again. All you need is a little love.