Romance Visited

I am not a very romantic person. Remember that Sex and the City episode when Carrie is dating the Russian and he reads poetry to her by the fire and she wonders why she is so jaded about romance? Well, I can totally relate. For years, I devoured romance novels with gusto. I will drop everything to watch romantic period pieces. I enjoy a well-done romantic comedy. Yet, when it comes to romantic moments in my own life, I tend to avoid them. I giggle nervously or crack a joke or change the subject.

Last night, avoidance was not an option.

For our first Valentine's Day as a married couple, Arthur surprised me the night before V-Day at the monthly stand-up show he produces at Occhi's lounge in the basement of Comix. As I usually do at these events, I plopped myself down, along side a few friends and thought it would just another night of guffaws. As Arthur was hosting the event, he got up on stage several times.


Then he began talking about Valentine's Day and how he was thinking about what to do for me that would be special. When he said, "and then I realized I have a stage and a microphone and an Irish guy with a guitar," followed by said Irish guy getting his guitar and starting to strum, I realized that this would indeed be special. Arthur didn't sing to me. What he did do was pour out his emotions for three minute. My face flush, my body sweating and my heart beating quickly, I listened from outside my comfort zone as he spouted his love, his wonder, his gratitude and ocassionally his jokes. Speckled with humor, he painted a canvas of his love for me in front of friends, colleagues and strangers. It was beautiful. It was nothing I had ever experienced before and certainly the most romantic guesture I had ever witnessed.

Valentine's Day - the day, as my beloved husband reminded us last evening, that began in carnage - has always seemed a superfulous day for me. And when I was not with anyone, Valentine's day seemed either a terrible reminder of what was not in my life at the moment or an excuse to go out to dinner with friends and drink a lot of wine. I still dislike the Hallmark/make single people feel lesser/pressure to do something grand/made up holiday in theory.

However, last night I was the proud, mesmerized receipient of more romance than anyone probably has the right to. That critical, overly analytical part of me stepped aside and welcomed my Valentine.