Romance

Sometimes, romance is buying the one you love something totally random that she doesn't appreciate that she needs, until the day she really does. Sometimes, that is 16 heart-shaped handwarmers that get shared, held and loved as blizzards of snow engulf Oklahoma.

Sometimes I am more aware of romance when my own dear love isn't there to hold my hand.

This week, as I stepped off the subway at Clarendon I saw an old, frail, rumpled man holding two red roses in full bloom. As I climbed the escalator, I imagined they might be for his sweetheart of many years, or a small, delicate granddaughter, maybe even his own grown daughter after a busy day at work. Wouldn't it be dreamy to get two red roses on a random Wednesday from a man you've loved for decades?

On my way back to Foggy Bottom I noticed a couple kissing on the metro platform. The man, I hesitate to call him that as he seemed quite young and almost frail, was slightly taller. His lady's head was tipped up to reach him. I watched them kiss and lean into one another. I remembered the times that this had been us standing on this platform. We had been young, in love, oblivous, and I tipped my head back and reached up on tip toes to kiss my then new husband. It seems like minutes ago and decades at once, but is really somewhere in between.  Who knew how romantic a subway ride could be.

Sometimes, romance is arranging for a date evening even when you're sick, as Brent did on Saturday. He set up a movie date for us, complete with the kids staying over with his parents. He was nearly too sick to eat anything, but committed to seizing the moment as our schedules overflow for weeks to come.

Sometimes romance is just holding hands, looking at each other and knowing that come what may you are in it together and somehow it will be OK.  Sometimes it is knowing the curve of those fingers, the warmth of that skin as well as you do your own.  Sometimes it is loving and being loved simply, completely, without show, daily.  Sometimes romance is the everyday and sometimes it is the extraordinary.  My hope is that you can find romance in the little ordinary moments with the ones you love today and every day.  Happy Valentine's Day!