Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
Barbelith is a new kind of community (find out more)...
You can login or register.

Underground > Conversation >

The Most Romantic Thing

14:00 / 23.04.02

What's the most romantic thing you've done? Social mores and cliches be damned! What was the one thing that you've done that turned someone heart all melty? Use this thread for piss-taking, bragging rights or outright suggestions to the rest of us.

I'll go first.

One christmas, before Tara and I were living together, I would spend two or three nights a week at my parents' place, sewing a teddy bear for her. It was really hard, but the look on her face when she opened it and I told her I'd made it was priceless.

Okay, your turn.

Zoom.

15:21 / 23.04.02

Since you mentioned teddybears:

When my then girlf was about to go away to uni, she was very scared + apprehensive. In an attempt to alleviate this I gave her my teddybear which I'd had since birth (at that time Barnaby was 21yrs old). Refusals and insistings ensued and she finally accepted the gift with a little grateful teariness.

00:09 / 06.10.04

Don't know if anybody else would think this is romantic, but the bf recently commented that I always frown a bit when I'm reading, which made me feel quite warm all over. It struck me as romantic that he's been watching me read. I suppose the most romantic thing I've done for him involves his upcoming birthday gift, which I can't talk about in case he sees this.

01:39 / 06.10.04

In the super-early days of our courtship, my bf (who lived in my apt building) once left a hot coffee and newspaper outside my door before leaving for work. The best part is, despite our only having had a few conversations at that point, he either intuited or remembered me dropping a mention of how I like my coffee, and it was just right. I thought that was romantic.

I don't think I'm given to romantic gestures, mainly because I'm sure how to go about romancing a man. I guess the most romantic thing I've done for love interests is making them drawings.

01:40 / 06.10.04

um, that's not sure. Actually, I'm sure about it, I just refuse.

Lilly Nowhere Late

06:16 / 06.10.04

This thread make me feel sad and mean. I cannot for the life of me think of a romantic gesture I've made towards my partner in years. What's wrong with me? Help me think of something fast!

20:37 / 06.10.04

I send him flowers sometimes, apropos of nothing in particular. He likes to make a point of taking the long route to the sink to water them, passing by in front of the desks of two annoying women, to make them jealous. His flowers make everyone else's look shabby, he says. I think at the core of any romantic gesture is the message that you are paying attention, that you find somebody lovable and intriguing enough to make note of small things about them (such as how they like their coffee).

Solitaire Rose as Tom Servo

21:19 / 06.10.04

It's hard to put into words without sounding like some Jr. High student, but...

There was a girl who I cared for very deeply, and I took her to the very place I had first seen her to tell her that I was in love with her, and explained it all right there. It became the place we had our first kiss. Also, where we decided to give a long-term, comitted relationship a try.

Sadly, she didn't have the decency to take me there when she broke up with me. Would have had a real sense of closure...

22:26 / 06.10.04

my boy does a lot of little things - like he remembers the date I told him I'd be exclusive with him, and every month on that day we do a little celebration. at first I was a little perplexed, but then I realized that he's doing his part to appreciate me and the significance of our relationship, and it's lovely.

twice I've had boys leave love notes on my car windsheild on a regular but random basis - it was nice to find some little slip of affection on my way to a dreary day at work. I also like to do little gestures, like secretly slip love notes or small gifts in a pocket for him to find later in the day.

I've had some lovely, romantic lovers in my life. so spoiled, so lucky! for those of you who do things like that for your SOs, I salute(/hug) you!

22:28 / 06.10.04

Sacrificing your sanity?...Isnt that romantic???
I went to see Lord of The Dance!!!
Silly me. She deserved to be under the heels of Mr.Flatley instead of forcing me to watch them... but Im not bitter!!!

Lilly Nowhere Late

06:00 / 07.10.04

ok, I emailed him. I know that sounds bare but understand that I was downstairs immersed in my own little list of tasks on my computer, and he was two stories upstairs working away on something(prolly something I asked him to do) so I just sent him an email. We moved on to instant messaging via Skype and before you knew it... I'll spare you the details, but it was all kind of sweet and romantic.

woo hoo, this has been an inspirational post after all.
Cheers.

13:07 / 07.10.04

(*frowns a bit*)

You know, I think he's way better at the "grand gesture" variety romance than I am. Like, he's co-opted Valentine's Day and turned it into a huge annual production - he takes the day off work, sends me roses, cleans the house and strews it with flowers, sets up a big bowl of fruit and chocolate and a bottle of wine for after I get home from work, and then either cooks an amazing multicourse meal or takes me out somewhere super fancy. He's also sent flowers for no reason on many occasions, and once he declared some random day to be "I Love Sekhmet Day" and just spent the entire day doing lovely things for me. (*warm fuzzies*)

There's a lot of garden-variety romance, though, on both sides. Just little daily things. He drives me to the bus stop every morning, even though he technically doesn't have to be awake yet at that time, and I could easily walk. He has long hair, which I braid up for him before Aikido class, and I hold it back for him when he's sick and throwing up. We give each other backrubs. We share housework and pick up each other's slack. We trade off cooking and complimenting each other mightily on meals.

But search me if I can think of anything "big" I've done for him recently. I feel scummy. Hmm. I shall have to remedy this...

13:17 / 07.10.04

My boyfriend once gave me a biscuit...

Ex

13:34 / 07.10.04

Hey! He told me he was just going to borrow that biscuit!

ONLY NICE THINGS

13:40 / 07.10.04

What could be more romantic than sharing the biscuit?

Regrettable Juvenilia

13:48 / 07.10.04

What kind of biscuit was it?

14:16 / 07.10.04

I think it was a ginger biscuit.

ONLY NICE THINGS

14:17 / 07.10.04

Oh God.

14:51 / 07.10.04

once he declared some random day to be "I Love Sekhmet Day"

This is a brilliant idea. I am going to steal. Well, not, you know, obviously.

Cheap. Easy. Cruel.

15:48 / 07.10.04

Most of the romantic things I have done involve me making something for my SO. I find that I feel a gift is more romantic if I put a bit of myself into it. I hate just buying something for someone.

The month before last, for my girlfriends birthday, I managed to scrounge the makings of a table. I had heard her mention a few months earlier that she would like one for her back porch, so I built one and tiled the top of it. I surprised her with it on her birthday, she was very pleased.

ONLY NICE THINGS

15:50 / 07.10.04

I find that I feel a gift is more romantic if I put a bit of myself into it.

I feel much the same way about biscuits.

Cheap. Easy. Cruel.

16:36 / 07.10.04

Remind me to never eat one of your biscuits, Haus.

18:37 / 07.10.04

Romance, it's madness. Best avoided by real people.

Ganesh and I met while we were working together. He was there for a year. No way I was gonna shag him and come in to work every day for the rest of the year and see him there after a one night stand.

So, after five months we came together and it was apocalyptic. But, being consummate professionals, we told no one at work. Then came Valentine's day, not long before he left my unit.

Interflora man, having delivered flowers all morning and kissed the lucky ladeez on the delivery advice each time, arrived in the acute psychiatric unit I ran and asked for "Sister Xoc". My garrulous team pointed him my way, snickering, and he advanced on me with a bouquet of long stemmed red roses.

Without batting an eye, he said "Well, I've kissed all the rest" and gave me a Valentine's Day smacker and my floral tribute. Awwww. So, I guess they all knew from then on about the nancy boys' assignations in the on-call suite.

Should have got Interflora man's number. He was a sweetie.

14th February the next year I was running a team event with a brain injuries team upstairs in a Quaker meeting house. Interflora man tried to deliver a five foot tall bouquet from Edinburgh's best florist five times. He kept interrupting the Quaker funeral downstairs and being shooed away. Florists eventually delivered to our home on the 15th and gave me a complimentary bunch of something valentinesy too as recompense for their "error". Nice people.

Understandably, I am nervous of romantic gestures, in the first months of the year particularly.

18:42 / 07.10.04

btw, nice to have you back, El Capitano Zoom.

13:41 / 08.10.04

(pssst. Zoom posted that 2 years ago!)

The only example I can think of (and only because my SO said it was incredibly romantic) was a few years ago when we were slaving away in a salmon cannery in Alaska.

Her hat fell off the the pier into the water, so without a moment's thought, I ran down to the where the fish get unloaded, grabbed a giant hook and crawled under the dock along a series of little boards covered in slime, and spent ten minutes fishing the hat out of the water. I triumphantly returned to work covered in green slime, holding the hat high...

...what? She said it was the most romantic thing anyone had ever done for her...

14:21 / 08.10.04

I forgot what biscuit means.

14:25 / 08.10.04

I am not romantic. I am funny. Romance for me is pointing at the front of his pants & snapping, "Down in front!"