Monday, January 26, 2009

Enhance the Romance


One crisp January night ten years ago, I set my studies aside, walked out of my North Hall dorm room, and made the drive to my parent's house thirty minutes away. There I spent several hours hunched over a cookbook and a counter top, cracking eggs, sifting flour, greasing pans. It was the night before Jill's birthday and I wanted make my new girlfriend feel special. So I made her a three-tiered chocolate cake--frosting and all--from scratch. Even though Jill later noted that the frosting I had so painstakingly made and applied was a little rich for her taste (hard to believe), it was a rather romantic gesture, if I don't say so myself.

But, oh, how the mighty have fallen.

This year I spent the night before and the night of Jill's birthday in meetings. And Jill baked her own cake. I had thoughts of frosting it for her (though I had no intention of making any frosting from scratch), but instead, my secretary did it while she baby-sat Adrian. Some (who are easily impressed) might think that impressive--a sign of my great importance--but I'll admit it's really rather pathetic. So even though we're old codgers who have been married seven and a half years (we're experts now), I probably ought to do something to step it up a notch--some gesture to enhance the romance.

Then again, I managed to sit through two really bad chick-flicks that Jill picked out (Because I Said So and The Holiday) while keeping the my groans and sarcastic comments to a minimum (sleeping through the last half of The Holiday helped in that regard). That has to count for something, doesn't it?
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2 comments:

gardener said...

Revisionism. You told us she was "just a friend." Although we were fairly certain you had never baked a cake before for any other friend (or relative).

Anonymous said...

Oh man, people are going to think I have extremely bad taste in movies. I'll admit the last two were pretty terrible.