I'm in the Mood for Looooove....

I have my homepage both at home and work set to iGoogle, and one of the gadgets I have included on there is Wikihow. I'm not entirely sure why I have it there because I never make or do any of the things that pop up, but I have it there anyways. Yesterday, I opened up my intar-web and checked out the latest Wikihow article. The title: How to Be Romantic. There were two thoughts that crossed my mind when I read this:

"You've gotta be kidding me..." and
"Well, I guess it's timely enough, with V-Day next week and all."

So of course I opened it up and apologized internally for my first thought; maybe I too need a refresher or to be taught a thing or two. After all, Steve and I have been together 5 years next month and we've been married only for 7 months this month. I have a lot to learn. As I read there were some things in that article that I thought to myself, "OK, I can see that" and then there were some other things that made me just giggle. OK, maybe more of a chortle but still the reaction of amused was there.

Things that made me say "OK, sure, that I can see":

Break the Monotony: This makes sense to me, and there are a lot of people out there who have been married or together for a while who might see this and say "Oh man. Yeah. That would be awesome." If you don't break up the monotony every so often, you get stuck in these routine boring ruts. Before my parents moved to Tennessee, it was the same darned routine every week and they always went to the same places for long weekends or vacation. If that were me - as much as I love routine I would have gone nuts in my relationship. Spice it up once in a while, do something unexpected for your partner or plan something that you haven't done before.

Make it Personal: The article says that "romance is not one size fits all", and this is so true. While every woman appreciates flowers once in a while, is that really what would excite her when you walk in the door with a surprise? And sure, every man appreciates having dinner ready when he walks in the door, but is that really a gesture of romance to him? I have a great recent example of making it personal, and I might have mentioned it in a previous post but because it's recent it sticks out in my head. About a month or so ago, Steve came home from work and I was cooking dinner before our weekly Bible study. After I plated dinner and we sat down at the table, he said "I have a surprise for you - close your eyes". Hearing the rustling of plastic bags, I assumed there were flowers. Boy was I ever wrong; when my eyes opened, there on the table sat Guitar Hero III for the Wii. I was more excited about that than I have ever been about flowers (except maybe the first ones he ever gave me, which is a story for another time) - and he knew that.

Don't Forget to Laugh: Life in general is miserable if you don't have a sense of humor, and laughing (unless you're laughing AT your partner) is never really ill-placed.

Things that made me giggle a little:

If you're at a loss for ideas, go to "How to Come up with Romantic Ideas". Oh man. To me, if you're at a loss for ideas... don't go to that list. Come up with a list of questions you can sneakily place to draw ideas from your partner. Go to your partner's best friend or closest family member for ideas. That's just my opinion anyways; Wikihow doesn't know my husband.

Being romantic doesn't mean being obsessive: This made me giggle because the first thought that popped into my head was "No, but being obsessive DOES indeed make you a stalker, or at least close to one".

I joke a bit, but really romance and being romantic I think is a very important part of being in a relationship. If you don't do acts every so often that practice romance, you'll eventually lose that spark and become bored or worse. Just because that romantic ideas list made ME giggle doesn't mean it won't help you or someone you know. But be sure to practice romance regularly - not just on Valentine's Day or your anniversary. Otherwise you could end up like these guys some day: