Romantic Gestures for Valentine’s Day
Posted on 03. Feb, 2010 by Andrea in Lifestyle, Relationships and Dating
When it comes to expansive, romantic gestures, two names spring instantly to mind.
Emperor Shah Jahan ordered the construction of the Taj Mahal Palace in memory of his third wife Mumtaz Mahal. He promised her on her death bed that he would build a monument to match her beauty and although it took him 16 years to complete the mausoleum, he was true to his word. The enormity of the gesture is all the more poignant for being made in grief and there can be few places in the world more likely to bring a romantic lump to the throat.
For her 40th birthday in 1972 Richard Burton bought Elizabeth Taylor a large heart-shaped diamond known as the Taj Mahal “I would have liked to buy her the Taj-Mahal,” Burton remarked, “but it would cost too much to transport.”
But for me, the price of romance rarely equates to the value.
When I was a schoolgirl at the Convent in Stockport, one of my classmates finished with her boyfriend on February 13th (that girl had a lot to learn about dating). On Valentine’s Day as we each bragged about the number of Valentine’s cards we’d received and some of us produced one or two that had been, ahem…home produced, we looked out of the window to see fresh graffiti painted all over the Junior School wall where it was impossible for our class to miss.
‘Farewell is a lonely sound’ it read.
It was the singularly most romantic thing my classmates and I had ever seen. The girlfriend rose to Goddess-like standing in our eyes and there wasn’t a single girl in that school that wouldn’t have gladly comforted the ‘ex’.
Alas, the gesture failed to win back the heart of his fair lady and as far as I can remember, the nuns reported him to the police and he was fined.
But, as you can see, it has remained etched indelibly in my memory.
7 or 8 years ago on my way to work, I was putting petrol in the car just around the corner from the office in Middlewich and as I came back from paying, a complete stranger rushed up to me, thrust a bouquet of flowers into my hand and told me they were just because I was beautiful. Clearly this man had seen far too many adverts for cheap perfume or he may have been on drugs, I’m not sure. But suffice to say, you could have tied a piece of string to my wrist as if I was a balloon.
Shortly afterwards, as I saw him scouring the car park, presumably for my car, I had one hand on the phone ready to call the police and report a stalker. How fickle is that?!
But the romantic gesture that will forever hold pole position in my heart was when I told a guy I worked with that I liked Rudyard Kipling’s poem about Gunga Din but that I couldn’t find it anywhere. The following week he gave me a copy of Kipling’s Barrack Room Ballads, then he sat cross-legged on a table in the staff canteen and recited the entire poem to me.
This year is our 20th wedding anniversary.
What’s the most romantic thing that’s ever happened to you?
Andrea Montgomery
Freelance feature/travel writer and author of 2 travel guides, Andrea is a compulsive blogger and Tweeter with an annoying tendancy to behave like Head Girl (presumably because she never got to be one).
3 Responses to “Romantic Gestures for Valentine’s Day”
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Kate
03. Feb, 2010
Andrea, that is a fantastic blog and I sighed a deep sigh and reached for the tissues…….
My little tale is not up to yours but touched me so deeply at the time….
Back in 1985, I lived in a tiny mews cottage in Canterbury and was pregnant with my daughter, Sarah, now a gorgeous grown up 24 year old. Money was a bit tight and to add insult to injury, my husband was made redundant about 3 weeks before she was born…(sure my hormones made me direct blind fury at him for this abject misdemeanour at such a time…that or the fact I couldn’t see the feet that I wanted to kick him with…..)
After the birth, when still surrounded by that warm incredulity that I could produce such a beautiful, little delight of a child( and before the pethidine wore off and I could feel the stitches, tears and jelly belly) I watched the other proud Dads arriving with balloons, teddies and gigantic bouquets of flowers for their glowing spouses.
A little later, a beautiful smell wafted into the ward, followed by my husband carrying armfuls of lilac from the tree in our garden and a tiny heart shaped pebble he’d found on our beach……..enough said…….
Money doesn’t necessarily enhance the beauty of the gesture, the thought for someone, or the love behind the gift.
xxx
Andrea
03. Feb, 2010
Aaaah, that is such a nice story, Kate. Isn’t it amazing when someone comes through for you just when you most need them to? That’s love xx
Mike
04. Feb, 2010
I enjoyed both your storys Kate and Andy, very touching thankyou both for sharing them.
I think we all need a little romance in our lives, they say money makes the world go round but I´d rather believe it was love.