Who'd a Thunk It?

Me? A romantic? Nah! I do like the occasional love story, but we're talking The Notebook or Marley & Me (yes, I know it's about a dog), not like Harlequin romances. And I always ask my husband of 20 years when he's ever going to get around to proposing. Although, I think if he had ever gotten down on one knee, I would have laughed.

I happened to see an article online yesterday about the top 10 most romantic gifts. I decided to read it to see what I was missing. The article was aimed at men and what they should be getting for their significant other. Upon reading, I discovered that I actually got a romantic gift for Eric this year! Among the top 10 gifts, buying tickets for an event that your spouse would enjoy is considered romantic. Hey, I did that!

Let me explain. Eric has always liked Neil Diamond even though he won't claim to have lived through the 1970s because it was such a "tacky" decade as he puts it. He has suffered much teasing from family & friends for enjoying Mr. Diamond's music. In the past, we have given him Neil Diamond Cd's for Christmas. I think last year I gave Eric one of his Christmas Cd's (and have had to suffer through listening to it!). Not that I don't like good old Neil's music; I just don't go out of my way to listen to it. (Wait a minute. I think I may have the 45s of You Don't Bring Me Flowers and Forever in Blue Jeans up in our attic. Don't tell anyone!)

Back in November, I happen to find out that Real Diamond was playing at a local theater the day after Christmas. Real Diamond is a Neil Diamond tribute band. Since the real Neil is off touring in Australia and Africa for the next 8 months, I decided to get tickets for this local show. We've seen a Beatles tribute band, so I figured it couldn't be all that bad. Besides, it would be something different to do together and we could have a nice date. (Plus, the theater serves beer & wine!)

Thankfully, I got tickets for the late afternoon show because I was thinking we could go out to eat afterwards. The snow storm that hit us yesterday cancelled the evening show, but not ours'. So we went and had a really good time! They were actually very good! Our seats were in the second row, and "Neil's" mom was sitting two seats away from me. She went around talking to people in the audience during the intermission, and you could tell she's his biggest fan! After the show, "Neil" and the band came out to the lobby to thank everyone for coming. I was standing about 3 feet away from him while Eric missed it since he had to visit the little boy's room.

We decided against going to dinner since the roads were a mess and because Eric has been doing an elimination diet (for medical reasons under the guidance of a doctor). But, all in all, it was a fun time! AND I discovered that I am romantic after all (at least according to that article)! Perhaps I'll start humming You Don't Bring Me Flowers to give the hubs a hint!