This is a great post, in fact I've been viewing the site for several months and this one might be the most interesting I've read.
I consider myself very fortunate to have found the relationship I'm in. I found a girl that appreciates the little things in relationships that to me, build the relationship. I remember opening the car door the first time I took her anywhere, and she leaned across and unlocked mine. Not sure how many of you have seen "A Bronx Tale" but there was a part about the "door test" which is basically doing that, unlocking her door and seeing if she in turn unlocks yours. Well anyways, we have been together for over a year and she still hasn't opened the door to my car. I know she is capable, when she rides with anyone else she does open the door, but when she is with me, its a gesture to show her the "newness" isn't going to wear off this relationship, and she still thanks me nearly everytime I do it. In turn, when she is home and I get off work later than her, she has the porch light on for me, and actually opens the front door as I'm walking up, takes my lunchbox to go unpack it, and lately for some reason has had my sleep clothes laid out for me. If its raining and we are leaving the movie theatre/mall/resturant, I sometimes run and get the car so I can pull up and pick her up without having her walk in the rain. I could go on and on, but you get the point: we live our lives day to day
wanting to make the other person feel good, so its not really going out of the way.
We do all sorts of little things for each other like that, and everyone that knows us said "it will all stop in 3 months", much to their surprise we now do even more for each other.
I've always been the same guy, but I think you have to be in the right situation to be this way, because its totally different than all the other relationships I've had. And we both feel this way.
Her ex had money, and was pretty sucessfull, so did my ex. I on the other hand am a starving college student working full time and going to school full time to get by, yet she said she never knew what a real relationship was before we fell in love.
We definatly found our soulmates, and after 28 years on earth I finally feel like things are "right". The little things we do, that don't cost anything, are what I can't do without.
I don't think doing all the "romantic" stuff makes a guy less manly and I think I'm a good example: I love working out, motorcycles, boxing, and I still believe sometimes there is no substitute for a good ass kicking, and I enjoy my Irish beers (every great once in a while I enjoy them too much
), and I do a lot of typical guy things, but I treat women, and especially my girlfriend, the way I think they deserve to be treated until they proove otherwise.
I realized one day when I was younger that there is nothing stopping any person from being who they want to be. If you want to be a dickhead and treat women bad, its easy; there are a lot of easy girls out there for weak guys to prey on. If you want to be a nice guy its also easy, and being a nice guy doesn't mean you are weak, it means you are strong enough to treat people the way you want without worrying about what society thinks.
Wow I got a little wordy for my first post, but I figured it was about time I joined the site and contributed rather that looking through the window.