Romance Redux

[honeychile]

I got to thinking about this as I read the thread about the rose petals.

What if you're involved with or engaged to someone and he's just not as romantic as you'd like him to be? I'm not talking "rose petals on the bed" romantic, but the somewhat everyday things, like having a cutesy nickname, or surprising you with a card - even an ecard - out of the blue?

Can he be changed? Should he be changed? Is it worth the effort?

In my case, I know he's capable of being highly romantic - about once a year or so (love songs at karaoke, feeding me strawberries & champagne, etc). I know he comes from a family that never said, "I love you," to each other, and he now understands that when he doesn't say it, what I hear is, "I don't love you anymore."

I also know that he loves it when I do romantic things to/for him (singing a special song on his voice mail, heart shaped cookies, ecards), so he knows I crave this. I've even flat out said, "What do I have to do to make you more romantic?!"

Should the next sound he hears be me throwing in the towel (and engagement ring)? Help!