Creating "Us Moments"

I was awakened at midnight by a light tapping on my window. Knowing that only one person had the habit of showing up at my doorstep at the oddest hours, I jumped up and hurried my unadorned little self out the door. I still had some leftover eyeliner on my eyelids, dark circles under my eyes, and just-got-out-of-bed hair, but the only thing I was thinking of at that time was, "How long had I kept him waiting outside the door?"

I opened the door excitedly, not really knowing what to expect from this man of many surprises, but nobody was there. A car was parked right smack in the middle of my driveway, however, and that told me that Paul was just hiding somewhere, waiting for me to step out. And so I stepped out of the door, bare feet and all, and after a few seconds of me calling out his name, Paul stepped out from behind his car with a large smile and a warm, Valentine's Day kiss.

He had been waiting outside our village gate for quite a while already, he said, but he wanted to surprise me by knocking on my door at exactly midnight today. It was only the first of his many Valentine's Day surprises for me, and it amazed me that this guy could still think of all these little things after all this time. The courtship had ended a long time ago, but the romance definitely hadn't.Ü

I am one lucky girl.

* * * * *

We were also lucky enough to get a very crisp DVD copy of Shall We Dance, which–of course–we had been reserving for today. As I watched Richard Gere sashay down the dance floor, tears flowing from my eyes, I thought about all the things that happen to us everyday that keep us from keeping the romance in our relationships alive. Work, meetings, chores, domestic matters, family squabbles, petty arguments, issues large and small… These all fill up our days and hardly leave any space for us to create intimate moments with our loved ones. So no matter how much time we spend with our beloved, and no matter how much money we blow on expensive gifts for each other, we still sometimes feel a loneliness that could only be cured by real "us moments"–moments when nothing else really matters except you and the life you have created together.

It often takes special occasions, such as today (Valentine's Day), for us to remember to carve out some time for those "us moments". But why not create "us moments" everyday? Like John Clark, Richard Gere's character in Shall We Dance, we shouldn't hesitate to dress up nicely and ask our beloved to dance (literally or figuratively) anytime, anywhere. After all, we never really know what tomorrow will bring. We shouldn't wait for the perfect opportunity to do something romantic, for that "perfect opportunity" may never arrive.

Ultimately, it's up to us to create magical moments in our lives. They can happen anytime, anywhere–whether you're loaded or broke, whether you have a minute or a week. Love changes in form and expression, but Romance should always be part of any love relationship.

For if you don't keep the romance alive and take your beloved dancing (literally or figurately), somebody else might.Ü

Happy heart day, everyone! Welcome to another year of Spoonful of Sugar.