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This week’s mission: Make a Grand Gesture
This week we feature a guest-blogger while I am away on my book tour. Ladies and gentlemen, Rebecca Kavanagh.
Grand gestures were on my mind while driving to dinner yesterday. With a week to go before Valentine’s Day, what could I do to show my husband how much I adore him? As we passed the airport, I toyed with the idea of hiring a skywriter. And then I saw this:
I wonder how this down-to-earth version of my idea went over? Did Bellababy notice the sign and smile all the way to work that morning? Or did Brad position it to delight her as she made her weary way home? Was it Bellababy’s birthday? The couple’s anniversary? Or was this, in fact, an early Valentine?
In any event, it was a grand gesture. And I want all of us to follow suit.
For this week’s mission, think outside the chocolate box to find a fun and creative way to say “I love you, I appreciate you, I’m thankful for you.” Grand gestures do not have to be razzle-dazzle. A grand gesture could be:
- Having a handwritten love letter couriered to his cubicle.
- Running a hot bubble bath five minutes before she walks in the door.
- Quietly arranging a babysitter for a surprise night out.
- Standing outside her bedroom window with a boombox, ala John Cusack in “Say Anything…”
- Or it could be razzle-dazzle. That’s fun too.
MISSION: Make a grand gesture for love.
SHARE: Tell us what you did, why you did it, and what the reaction was. Use the comment section below or email rakwordplay@att.net if you have pictures to share. We’ll compile your grand gestures and share them on Friday, just in time for Valentine’s Day.
As Amy would say, off we go!
Rebecca Kavanagh, guest blogger
About the Author: Rebecca Kavanagh
After nodding enthusiastically and saying “me too!” all the way through Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life, Rebecca Kavanagh became a devoted AKR fan. She was delighted to be a member of the initial Beckoning of Lovely team and continues to support AKR’s theatrical grand gesture. Rebecca is a freelance writer from Michigan whose favorite project is her weekly Mom’s the Word newspaper column about her kids.
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED: Grand gestures here.
08
02 2010
blogs.vocalo.org
First, our family really enjoyed your Land of Nod podcast. Second, I don’t know if I can bring it back, but my wife and I used to celbrate “Valentine’s Week.” 7 days of fun and surprises.
In the spirit that not all grand gestures involve first class tickets on planes or cruise ships and rare geologic specimens, I was determined to do something grand within the bounds of where I live and what I have to work with.
Fourteen inches of snow are forecast to fall here and they’ve gotten a good start. Roads are trecherous, the wind is blowing snow around in its sub-freezing air, and yet, because I live in the Great Lakes region, life goes on. Schools are open, but everyone is nervous about getting home safely and nothing short of school superintendents who don’t want to make up a snow day now in balmy June or needing to make that pesky mortgage payment gets people out of their houses. I went to work today and thinking of the cold and uncertain days ahead, I took a lengthy detour to a shop that sells fabulous savory treats so that I could bring my husband a treat to remind him that life isn’t all just surviving until Spring and that his wife loves him and wants him to be coddled lovingly.
I slipped, slid, and skidded all the way there and picked out something with a tempting aroma and even nutritious! and skidded, slid and slipped all the way home again. Even getting the car up the driveway was iffy.
Before I even took my worn out body out of my snow-crusted coat, I got a pretty plate out and made the nicest presentation of the food that I could. I took it to him where he lounged and played on the computer (while I had been at work) and pleased to be able to show him how much I care for him, I put the food down.
He looked at it and said, “I already ate”.
The man who can eat all others at a Thanksgiving Dinner under the table didn’t touch a crumb or dollop of anything. I gave him a little while, then took the delights back to the kitchen.
If I were to make a grand gesture right now, just guess what it would be. Go ahead. Guess.
(Do I get points for trying to get in the spirit here?)
Several years ago, I was walking through a very residential part of San Francisco on Valentine’s Day. I saw on the sidewalk, words written in colored chalk. As you walked down the hill, you saw:
Happy
Valentine’s
Day
Eden.
And at the street corner was written:
I love you!
I’ve always remembered that. So simple, so creative, so sweet.
Why wait for Valentine’s Day—here’s to grand gestures all the time!
I am doing two things. For my best friend who I do love as a sister I bought a box of her favorite French cookies that she loves. I had to go to the foreign exchange market to get them (which is a long drive), but it’s worth it. And I hand wrote a very long letter of appreciation and love. She is there for me everyday with jokes and promise of travel to amazing places.
for my second I bought a dozen calla lilies and I am giving them to a friend who I haven’t seen in a while at her concert Friday. She is an amazing singer and although she has been off touring and such, I am grateful for her everyday. She saved my life once and I want her to know that I am always here if she ever needs someone like I did.