I've always felt that flowers, chocolates, cards, and stuffed animals mean so much more on any day BUT Valentine's. That's a day when it is just an obligation. This article helped me to understand my feelings on the topic more, what do you think?
February 10, 2008
The Guy Side: Never watch Love Story' while swallowing
By Michael Grady
Tribune Columnist
I watched "Love Story" the other night. I had never seen it before. We stumbled across it when Phoenix's 3-point shots stopped falling, then flipped back and forth to see if Ali McGraw could last longer than the Suns' inside defense. (Don't bet on either.) It ends with Ryan O'Neal - trapped between grief and a massive '70s hairdo - uttering the movie's thesis line:
"Love means never having to say you're sorry."
I sucked half my beverage into a lung.
"Love," I croaked, when I was able to form words again, "means ALWAYS having to say you're sorry!"
They were thinking of romance. Romance means never having to say you're sorry. Romance is the stylish sheen on a relationship: the hood ornament, chrome accents and leather interior. Love is the engine: more complicated and less ostentatious. Both are important, but if this rig is going anywhere, it ain't because of the chrome.
The distinction between the two always disappears around Valentine's Day, leaving men (who can excel at love) trapped like bulls in the nuance-heavy china shop of romance. We spend unwisely, our spouses get confused, and somewhere a jeweler buys a vacation home
A quick anecdotal review, then, on the difference between love and romance:
Romance: A candlelight dinner at a French restaurant with fine wine and lively, flirtatious conversation.
Love: The frozen waffle you insist will do for dinner because your flu-ridden spouse was unable to shop.
Romance: Seeing her dolled up in her fanciest dress and telling her, "You look great."
Love: Telling her the same thing between contractions.
Romance: A singular, audacious gesture like flowers, a poem or an expensive present.
Love: The daily, relentless work of making yourself dependable.Romance: Speaking your heart in lush, flowery phrases.Love: Speaking in sentence fragments and gestures, and your spouse says: "I know."
Romance: Braving fire, flood, war, pestilence - and anything else screenwriters can come up with - to be with your soul mate.
Love: Coming home from a bad day, finding your spouse had a worse one, then switching moods to cheer him up.
Romance: Letting him share all his dark, inner demons!
Love: Letting him tell the same damn story he's told a thousand times, but listening and laughing because he enjoys telling it.
Romance: An audaciously expensive Valentine's gift.
Love: Finding a thrifty way to express your affection, then using that savings on a nice dinner for two.
Happy Valentine's Day!
Top Ten Tuesday: And Still They Sit...
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*Note:* I'm late to the TTT party this week. I got sidetracked from
finishing my post by a bookish event. My husband was supposed to go see Rainn
Wilson...
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3 comments:
I loved that!! I am a firm " I love Valentines Day" kind of a girl. I do. HOWEVER I would take real love any day over movie romance. Last night I was at the store and there were tons of guys looking at cards and chocolates etc. and I thought how many of their wives/girlfriends would have just wanted them home spending time with them instead of wasting $$
Your dad and I connected to this column as well. The older we become and the more years we count up at anniversary time (33 this year if anyone is counting), the more blessed we feel to have the love of mutual admiration, of friendship, and the enjoyment of peaceful time together. Romance definitely has it's place, but true love is so much better.
you are so wise, oh cire...
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