What is Romance?

I was listening to the radio on my way to work yesterday and the DJ asked, "In 2010, what is romantic?" Now, my first thought was, "Why does it matter that it's 2010? Has what's romantic really changed?"



Unfortunately, I didn't get to hear all of the answers that people called in with, but it did get me thinking...has it changed? Has our idea of romance really changed just because we are in the 21st century? Is romance really so different from 1946 when my grandparents got married?



Certainly, technology has changed many facets of our lives...the way we communicate, the way we find information, the way I teach and the way my students learn. But romance? Really? As I thought about all the things I consider romantic, I realized that most of them center around one single idea; romance is all about making one person feel like the most important person. How that is done varies, I suppose, but thinking that Jamie is romantic isn't usually about big, expensive gestures. It's about the single red rose he brought me early on when we were dating; it's the lunch he makes for me to take to work and the note he always writes for me on a paper towel that he stashes in my lunchbox; it's opening a door for me, or putting an arm around me; romance is about reminding me how much he loves me. That's what I think of as romantic...none of those things would be different in 1946 - and none of them require technology, which is good, because Jamie is anti-technology all the way! So, I ask you - what is romantic? Does it matter that it's 2010? Has romance changed?



Erica