by Gladys Diaz

This weekend I had the pleasure of being pleasantly surprised by my hubby. I was feeling so sore after spending most of the day before cleaning out my sons’ playroom.  It was pretty late before I finally got to sit down, and the last thing I wanted to do was move.  When my husband said, “Let’s go upstairs,” much earlier than we usually go to bed, my first thought was “I don’t want to.” All I wanted to do was sit and relax for a while.

To be honest, I was a little put off.  I sort of felt like he was telling me what to do.  So I almost said, “No.”

But I’m so glad I didn’t!

As much as I wanted to stay on the couch, laying down actually sounded heavenly, so I slowly got up and began gathering up some things to put away and take upstairs.   I could tell he was getting a little anxious, which was beginning to bug me, because I felt like he was hurrying me.  But then I saw a hint of a smile and he said, “If you don’t hurry up, you’re going to miss your surprise!”

He had me at “surprise”!

When I got upstairs, the bathroom was lit in vanilla-scented candles, the tub was filled with bubbles, and Michael Bublé was playing in the background!

How romantic is that?  Very!

I hugged him and thanked him for such a sweet and romantic gesture and told him that this was exactly what I needed!  Then he confessed that he’d been thinking about doing that for me all day, since we had the conversation in the morning as we held one another in the kitchen about wishing we could stay in bed all day, like we used to before we had kids.  So sweet!

As I soaked in the bubble bath while getting a lovely foot massage, I thought about how close I came to saying that I didn’t want to go upstairs; how I’d interpreted his excitement about surprising me as him trying to rush me, and how, after all of these years, he’s still able to pleasantly surprise me!  I mean, how many couples can say that this type of romance is still alive after 14 years (and two kids)?

So the lessons I learned were:

• Be open to going with the flow.  True, I initially didn’t want to move from the couch, and I could have expressed that, but he wasn’t suggesting something that would distress or put me out in any way when he suggested we go upstairs, so I am really glad that I chose to go with the flow.  Otherwise, I may have missed out on a really romantic evening!

•  Allow yourself to receive be pleasantly surprised.  Sure, the bubble bath, candles and music were sweet, but I think it was even more sweet that my husband had been thinking about and planning the evening all day long!  I was too tired to do want to prepare any of that on my own, and, not only did I get to enjoy it, but I also got to see how much he enjoyed seeing me so happy!

•  The romance does not have to fade with time.  There’s a misconception out there that romance is only for “the honeymoon phase.”  But what if the honeymoon phase lasted for years – decades, even?  The truth is that romance doesn’t fade.  We fade.  We get comfortable. We forget about how fun it was to surprise and delight in and with one another. And we can choose every day – any day – to bring romance into our relationships!

What about you, what has been one of your favorite romantic surprises?  And what will you do to bring fun and romance back into your relationship?

Comments?  Questions? Let us know below!  We love hearing from you!

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