Sharing a home-cooked meal and cleaning up the kitchen afterward aren’t Hollywood’s ideas of a winning Rom-Com, but I’ve found that those genuine moments nurture love and create space for authentic conversations.
Being a foodie, I enjoy preparing meals with my boyfriend. We nurture “us” through food. The simple act of going out of my way at the grocery store to buy ingredients for a new recipe instead of relying on the standard chicken dinner is one example. He keeps an assortment of teas at the ready and offers a hot cup at the end of a good meal.
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As we make dinner together, we might share a challenging moment from our day or laugh at our recipe mistakes. We break dishes and clean up the mess together. Even setting the table — plates, water glasses, forks, knives, and spoons — is a reassuring ritual for me. We are as comfortable in each other’s kitchen’s as we are in each other’s lives.
The table talk is the extended conversation of our lives. We catch up on personal projects. He talks about drawing or movies. I’ll chat about my writing.
As our relationship has progressed, it’s also become important to enjoy quiet moments together. My boyfriend is a teacher and frequently spends his evenings and weekends grading papers. While he works, I’ll sit in the same room and do research or check Facebook. We have reading nights where we try and sit quietly while reading a book or exploring our Kindles.
Our love has grown the more we have shared our lives. We support each other’s interests. He likes to tell me about browsing at the neighborhood bookstore. And I’ll share some tidbits from the Netflix series I’m watching. It’s fun to have someone celebrate your interests. I never understood these small moments in love until now.
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I’m not one to share love advice “just because,” but a useful motto for a relationship might be, “Simpler is better.” The smallest gestures can bring the greatest joys. Leaving the last bite of dessert for me or going with him to action-adventure movies on a Saturday night. Genuine, simple actions have become the cornerstone of our love.
We give each other affirmation. And many high fives. We share our disappointments. We allow ourselves to be vulnerable. We uncover a little more about our personalities and our quirks. We reveal the most intimate pieces of ourselves in our everyday actions and words.
It is truly in the ordinary, everyday moments where our romance has blossomed.