I saw an interesting article come through on my newsfeed from NPR. It asked romance writers to share their favorite moments for Valentine’s day.
What can be more appropriate for the day of love than to ask someone that writes romance all day what romance truly means? Of course, there are many different answers. But in all the ones they listed in their article, “simple” was the one thing that rang true. It doesn’t take lots of money or even a lot planning to let your romance shine through. It’s the simple act of being there. It’s showing that you are present in the relationship and are giving each other what you need most, right now, in this moment.
The Artist
The romance in simply being there
There’s a scene in The Artist about half way through where Renee realizes what was missing from her first marriage, and acknowledges what she has with her new love interest, Bradley. She recalls her relationship with her ex:
At the end of the day, they’d both retreated to do the things they wanted to do. Alone.
They’d slept in the same bed. Even made love every Saturday night. But it was mechanical. More of an okay-honey-it’s-ten-o’clock-let’s-do-this-now kind of thing. It was a checklist where they were simply marking off things from their weekly to do’s.
She’d thought that was love. She’d thought that was as good as it got.
But now she knew the difference. And she was grateful for coming this far.
Because now she knew what she’d had.
She knew she wanted more. She knew she deserved more.
There is something super romantic about being in tune with one another. To realize that you want to be there for another person because you know you’re part of a bigger thing. You’re part of something that works now, tomorrow, and a year from now, because you’ll always have each others backs.
