He and I, him and me,
We are “we”, as we did agree.
Often times, though, I wish he’d flee
So from his foibles I’d be free.
I can irk him, and he can tire me,
And eye to eye, we may not always see
Or share the same passions or esprit.
He’s an extrovert, while I’m more intro-,
He loves golf, but I, the disco.
I fancy warmth, he fancies the cold.
He’d rather rush whereas I’d much rather stroll.
He pokes n’ pinches, tries to aggravate,
Yet I can be meaner, at times threaten our fate.
But truth be told, if we’d no such chaotic spree—
If I were like him and he were like me—
And all we knew was happiness,
If we knew nothing of all this stress…
What would we do in our happy land?
Besides laugh, sing and dance the can-can?
If all we had was smiles galore,
Would this not be such an awful bore?
I must remind me, it depends on me,
Just how much love is inside of We,
And that inside his chest is a beating heart,
From which I would never ever want to part.
So here I am, with an open chest
To reveal this heart of mine, giving its best.
And so I renew my vows to We,
To he and I, to him and me.

-A poem to Javi

I share this poem with you only because I am confident every relationship shares similar feelings, whether between lovers, family, friends or co-workers. And if it may not be your case, then give it time, my Darling Romantic, give it time. Whatever the relationship may be, all relationships eventually encounter their idiosyncrasies, their smooth but also their rougher dynamics. A good and useful reminder: we’re all human. And sometimes, VERY HUMAN. A trick I use to soften my hardened heart towards someone is to think of their flaws and wonder if I’d love them as much without these flaws. Usually my answer is NO. Which fundamentally means that a person’s flaws and foibles are also what endear them to us, and what touches our heart about them.

To demonstrate your appreciation and love for another, I present some playful options. For a birthday, I love the idea of printing a tender image of your Amoroso or Lady-love on a cake and/or t-shirt (here deployed is the 80s heartthrob symbol). For a parent or for a friend, try printing all the “faces” of their personality, taping tape them onto a stick for a rich unique (yet cheap) embellishment of their cake (here, for my Dad, “El Magnifico,” together with icing in the form of his favorite vices—wine and cigars). You might also consider writing a poem, a note or all the adjectives and phrases that you love about that person on a cake (here, for my beautiful mum).