Repost: In Honor of Valentine's Day: Now That's Romantic

(Originally posted Feb. 2007)

After reading Mary Ellen’s post on romance and after receiving an encouraging email from Margaret, I have decided to chime in on the topic of romance. It has taken me many years to shed my teenage ideas about romance developed largely by movies I can’t believe my parents ever let me watch. We actually experienced a few years of marital difficulties in those first few years of marriage due in large part to my inability to let go of those unrealistic romantic notions. If my life is a movie then it certainly isn’t a romantic comedy but praise God it’s not a tragedy either.

Mary Ellen mentioned in her post about when she knew that she had married the right man. My “aha” moment came shortly after the death of our daughter Mary in 2003. She was delivered stillborn at 36 1/2 weeks gestation. As you can imagine, this was a very difficult time for my husband and I (not to mention our three children). In the weeks and months that followed I spent many days in tears for the baby that I would never know here on earth. On one particularly difficult morning as I was crying in the shower, my husband entered our bathroom. As I got out of the shower, I commented to my husband that I wished I was coping better. He turned to me and said, “You got out of bed this morning and you took a shower. Everything else is just icing on the cake.” I knew at that moment that I had married the man of my dreams – romantic and otherwise. This was a man who understood that I was giving my best effort and loved me unconditionally. Now that’s romantic!!!

This is the same man who waited to hold our sweet baby Peter (born 15 months later) so that I could be the first to hold him after the c-section. Now that’s romantic!!!

This is the same man who devotedly goes to a stressful job day after day to support his family and to enable his wife to home teach their children. Now that’s romantic!!!

This is the same man who took his wife on a romantic NYC getaway for her 40th birthday. Now that’s romantic!!!

And finally, this is the same man who loves his wife enough to find special moments together even if it’s only a trip to the supermarket together, a movie, or holding hands at Home Depot. Now that’s romantic!!!

True romance comes through a life of service and devotion to one’s spouse. Now that’s romantic!!!