Thursday, August 18, 2011

Romantic Gestures – You Gotta Love ’Em

In honor of Romance Awareness Month, I’m blogging about romantic gestures. Come on ladies, you know the ones. They make your heart (among other things) melt just a little. Here’s a few that spring to mind.

Flowers for no reason at all
A romantic dinner for two, prepared by your man
Foot massage – pure bliss!
Holding hands after a dozen or two years of marriage

And then there are the gestures guaranteed to put you in the mood.

Laundry put away
Dishes washed
Toilet cleaned

Am I right? You know I am!

The romantic gesture in a movie is the scene that makes us sigh.

Robert Redford washing Meryl Streep’s hair in Out of Africa Molly Ringwald giving Judd Nelson her diamond earring in The Breakfast Club Richard Gere climbing the fire escape in Pretty Woman Humphry Bogart letting Ingrid Bergman go in Casablanca

And my personal favorite

Tramp giving Lady the last meatball in Lady and the Tramp







Book Give-a-way! My first book in the Class of ’85 series, Lonely Road to You, debuted one year ago in August. In honor of this momentous anniversary, I’m giving away a PDF copy to one lucky commenter. And happily for me, the story fits my theme. Lonely Road to You is the story of Tyler North, ex rock star, and proper and reserved Kate Abbott, children’s book author and illustrator. The two meet on the way to Summerville, NY on an adventure filled road trip to their high school reunion. At the end of their journey, Tyler makes a grand romantic gesture. He sings a song he wrote for Kate. Now I’m no song writer, (as my 14 year old daughter was the first to point out!) but my editor said it brought tears to her eyes. Since she published the book and left the scene alone, I can only assume they were the good kind! You can't ask more than that from a romantic gesture.

What is your favorite romantic gesture? Please share!

For more information on Lonely Road to You and my other books visit me at www.JannineGallant.com. The winner of the book give-a-way will be posted in the comment section tomorrow.

24 comments:

Margaret Tanner said...

Hi Jannine,
Love the dinner for two and the flowers. A man who does that would surely win my heart.

Regards

Margaret

Luanna Stewart said...

The flowers for no reason gets me every time. But if my man EVER cleaned the toilet, I'd be his love slave, LOL!

Margo Hoornstra said...

I agree, cleaning the toilet is HUGE. Other good ones are changing that dirty diaper, feeding the dog and MY ultimate, closing the cupboard door after he's done in the kitchen. Heh heh!

Colleen Connally said...

Flowers. Roses to be exact. But at the moment I'd take hubbie finishing laying the floor in the bathroom.

P.L. Parker said...

Spur-of-the-moment little getaways! My husband and I do this about all the time, just decide at the last minute to take off, just the two of us, on a road trip. We spend the whole time talking, connecting, and then we have a hotel room all to ourselves...

Christine DePetrillo said...

When a man makes me something with his own two hands. That gets me every time.

Chris
www.christinedepetrillo.weebly.com

Leanne Tyler said...

I think men are missing out on many things by not giving a woman a foot massage. I never could get my husband to do it when we were married, but if he had ...

Brenda Whiteside said...

I married quite young. As a romantic young girl I had said that I'd marry the first guy who gave me a bouquet of yellow daisies. Frank proposed and the date was set. He got wind of my girlish wish and the week before we married, I received a bouquet of yellow daisies. He's not a real romantic guy so that gesture has lasted me for 40 years! Great post, Jannine.

Laura Breck said...

What a great idea, Jannine, having the hero write a song. That makes me all mushy!

Gosh, my hubby is so very, very romantic all the time that I kind of take it for granted (and he'll even clean the toilets when I'm too busy.) But it really tugs at my heart when he seeks me out for a kiss goodbye whenever he's leaving the house, and a kiss hello when he returns. *sigh*

Alison Henderson said...

My husband is not one for "classic" romantic gestures, but he shows his love in steady, quiet ways all the time. He recently built me a printer stand for my office and managed to perfectly match the style and finish of my Japanese-styled desk and bookcases. I was really touched, and since I see it every day, I'm always reminded of his devotion.

Vonnie Davis ~ Romance Author said...

Five years ago, I was going through some health issues. My over-active thyroid gland was destroyed by some expensive radiation medicine flown in from another state in a lead container. The doctor explained that until my natural thyroid levels bottomed out in my system, he wouldn't put me on synthetic thyroid medicine. I had no clue what all that would involve. I gained weight quickly. I had muscle cramps in my feet that curled them, making walking difficult. My hair fell out and my skin broke out in these horrible blotches. I was cold all the time. One day I'd had enough and was into a major crying jag. Calvin put me to bed between 2 heating pads, held me and sang songs until I fell asleep. Then he went out and bought me a bouquet of pink roses and a bag of cream-filled donuts...both my favs. All at once, I saw how blessed I was. So what, if I was almost bald with blotchy skin and unending muscle cramps? I had this incredible man who loved me.

Brenda Whiteside said...

Vonnie - you totally brought tears to my eyes!

Karyn Good said...

I would have to say that a bouquet of flowers gets me every time! I love getting flowers. But I wouldn't mind if the toilet get cleaned once in a while either :)

Jannine Gallant said...

I'm here, finally!! California time and getting hubby off to work. No romantic gestures this morning I'm afraid. LOL Looks like we have some very romantic men out there. Love the spur of the moment romantic get-a-ways, but the cleaned toilet still tops them all! Thanks for stopping by everyone.

Lynne Marshall said...

I'm on California time too. : )
OK, the most romantic thing my husband ever did for me was buy me a new outfit (which fit and looked great!) He has good taste. He put me in the car and blindfolded me, then drove around in circles to throw me off so I wouldn't have a clue where we were going. We wound up at a restaurant I had said I really wanted to go to. It was a great night.
Honestly, though, the sweetest gesture he does everyday is get up from the dinner table and wash the dishes (the ones that don't go into the dishwasher). I never ask him too, he does it as his way for thanking me for dinner.
Probably why I've kept him around almost 30 years. : )

Jana Richards said...

The sweetest thing my husband does is to cook. I honestly don't do much of the cooking anymore which suits me fine. Unfortunately, he hasn't caught on to the doing the dishes after supper thing yet, but I'm working on it!

Barbara Edwards said...

Hi Janinne
I agree about the meatball in Lady and the Tramp. It still makes my heart go pitter-patter.
sigh.
Barbara

Jannine Gallant said...

Lynne, a dish washing husband is definitely a keeper!

Jana, my husband cooked for a few days while I was working on the census last year. My girls begged me to take over again, but hey, he tried! LOL

Barbara, isn't that the sweetest scene!

Keena Kincaid said...

Janinne,
I can't believe it's been a year since Lonely Road to You came out. The months have flown by. I dated one guy who would come over and massage my temples and neck when I had migraines. It didn't make the pain go away, but it would put me to sleep. There'd always be a little note from him, too, when I woke up.

Mary Ricksen said...

I've been married for as long as I can remember. We know each other well. And my DH has lost his grasp on romance totally! It's awful!
I'd settle for flowers, hugs, any kind of surprise at all. Opening a door for me. He's failed the I know how to be romantic test! Over and over again. But he says he loves me a lot. Now that like...

Donna L Bolk said...

Hey there,

After 31 one years, my hubby still calls me during the day, just to say I was thinking about you.

Mariposa Cruz said...

Hi Janinne,
A back rub gets me every time. Great post!

Jannine Gallant said...

It's those little gestures that tug at your heart! Thanks for stopping by, ladies.

Jannine Gallant said...

And the winner is... Lynne Marshall! Congratulations, Lynne! Please email me at jannine@janninegallant.com so I can send you your copy of Lonely Road to You.

Thanks to everyone who left comments.