by Laura Marie Altom
Stumped? Me, too! LOL! A friend of mine tackles the newsletter for a writers’ organization we belong to, and out of the blue she hit me up for an emergency article quote. “Quick!” she said, “tell me something you did that was romantic.”
I was mortified that as a romance writer, I was coming up blank—like seriously blank. What was wrong with me? Well… I do still have my broken foot in this stupid giant boot. And it’s four balmy degrees outside. And I’m wearing my comfy sweats and hoodie that I’m pretty sure I slept in. None of which is screaming romance, right?!
But to be fair, since Hubby now works from home, he’s still in his sweats, too.
Regardless, where’s the romance? We’ve been married thirty years! That’s like a true-life happily ever after, so why does my romance well feel dry?
After a good hour of pondering this question, I finally concluded that for our marriage, romance has stopped being a “goal” to be chased and has morphed into more of an everyday feeling. It’s like the background program of our operating system.
What’s romantic to me now probably wouldn’t have been to the twenty-year-old girl who said, “I do.” Now, I find romance daily in bunches of different things nobody else might find significant, but I think are swoon-worthy. See if you find any of these actions romantic:
- Loading/Unloading the dishwasher
- Doing laundry.
- Cleaning dog/cat yack.
- Going to the grocery store for me when it’s four degrees outside.
- Cutting onions for me so I don’t have to cry.
- Always driving because I’m afraid of big drop-offs. (And little ones… LOL!)
- Taking me to doctor appointments so I don’t have to be alone.
Voila! Just like that, I’d found the missing romance, only it had been right there all along. Hubby and I do actually love each other, but rather than showering each other in candy and roses, we exchange gifts of actions. And it works. Just thinking about how blessed I am to have such a crazy abundance of romance makes me a little teary.
The next time my friend asks me what I did that was romantic, I think I’ll tell her about tonight, when I’ll repay Hubby’s sweet gestures by cooking his most romantic dinner—meatloaf, mashed potatoes and nice, ordinary green beans…