Next month, I’ll be celebrating my 23rd wedding anniversary and the week before my wedding anniversary is the anniversary of my husband’s and my first date.
That was 32 years ago.
Yup. That’s a long time. We met in high school and had a bit of a rough patch in college, but since we ended up together, the time apart really doesn’t count. I know it’s corny, but I don’t look back and wonder about missed opportunities because when it comes down to it, I married the right guy.
He’s not big on grand gestures, so I don’t get sweeping romance, but what he tends to get right are the little things. Let me give you an example.
I have wide feet, so I have to order cute shoes online. My favorite online store offers free shipping and delivery is usually super fast. Once, I placed an order at 10:00 on Sunday night and the shoes arrived on Monday morning. In fact, weekend orders with free Monday delivery were the
rule, not the exception.
Well, until this weekend–right before the Romance Writers of America National Conference. (Where shoes rule!) What happened? My beloved online store decided NOT to ship this weekend. There was no guarantee I’d have my shoes in time to leave for the conference.
Now, I’m no shoe diva. But I swear, I flipped a little. I used to joke about cutting off a toe on each foot to fit into cute shoes, but it seriously crossed my mind (only for a split second–really) when I realized I might be stuck. And then my husband came to my rescue.
“Don’t worry,” he said. “If I have to, I’ll bring you the shoes.”
What?
I live about an hour away from the conference site, and my husband offered to drive three pairs of shoes to me because it would calm me down and make me happy. Awesome, yes? That’s what I mean by little things.
I don’t have lots of expensive jewelry, and I don’t get whisked away to exotic locales every year, but I have this wonderful man who does what he can to make me happy.
And that’s how I see romance–as a collection of little things, small gestures, and simple kindnesses that make someone happy and that’s what I give to my characters to work with.
Hey, it’s always been said you should write what you know.
