Love, Dating, and Romance

Love And Romance

Can you be in love without romance? Sure. It's boring, but you can. Can romance lead to love? It sure helps! But more often than not, love and romance go together like peanut butter and jelly.

Love and Romance: Everyone Has a Different Definition

In a perfect world, your whole relationship is like it was in the first few months you were dating your significant other. There's not much fighting at all, and the person you're dating can do no wrong. But when you've been together a long time, and you know you love each other, the romance tends to fade unless you really work at it. It's not something that happens intentionally, but you get comfortable and tend to focus on other things, like daily life more. Think about it, when you're first dating, the thoughts of your normal dating life are often consumed with thoughts of the other person. You work to keep things romantic. You see other people who have been dating longer and feel sorry for them because they don't seem to have that "spark" anymore. On the other hand, they're at a different stage of their relationship than you are. They show love and romance differently towards each other. For example, a couple who have been married for five years might find love and romance in daily life. Maybe if the wife has had a hard day, she comes home to find that her husband has made dinner. Or maybe when the husband is out mowing the yard on a steaming hot summer day, the wife brings him an ice cold glass of water, tea or lemonade. The funny thing is, these people don't necessarily recognize these polite gestures as love and romance because society thinks that love and romance involves gift-giving and flowers or cards and letters with romantic messages of love. That's great too, if your spouse or significant other appreciates those sorts of gestures. Quite honestly, most men (not all) are not romantically inclined. So women need to find the romance in even the smallest gestures. And when women make romantic gestures, men should appreciate it. It makes it more enjoyable for women, who generally have fun doing these things for them in the first place.

Whatever your definition of love and romance is, be sure to let your partner know. That way you know what he or she will appreciate and what to expect (or not to expect) from him or her.

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