Standing in the Light of Your Halo, I've Got My Angel Now

Hey everyone! It's sweet story Sunday, and I have quite the story for you today! Interestingly, it's a story told without any words, yet such a powerful message of love is conveyed through just these pictures. If you're an emotional one, grab some tissues, and look at these beautiful photos of true love. 

Love overcomes all,

Your Romance Concierge

www.romanticsurprise.weebly.com

These photos are not mine, all photos are copyright of Tim Dodd Photography

You Put My Love On Top

Girls, throw your guy a bone once in a while. Yes, of course we expect our men to be romantic ;) But hey, it is a two way street, so here's some suggestions for showing him some love

1. If you catch him playing a video game, sit down beside him and ask him if you can play together the next round. Even if you're not into gaming, he'll appreciate the effort to participate in something he likes

2. If he's having a crazy week, help him out with some chores that are usually his like washing the dishes or taking out the trash, to help lighten his load

3. Suggest a fancy place for dinner and drinks, then surprise him by picking up the check

4. Surprise him with his favorite treat (cookies, pizza, etc) All guys love to eat.

5. When you're out together, make a point to touch his arm, rub his back, graze his leg- guys are very tactile so physical contact shows you're feeling close to him

6. Hand write a short, sweet note and leave it somewhere for him to find (like a sock drawer)

7. Suggest plans that involve his friends, it lets him know you want to get to know his group

8. Become addicted to a new show together, and make it a "date" to watch it together each week

9. Slip him a compliment every once in a while

10. Post-date, send him a quick text to thank him and let him know what a great time you had. It's sweet and lets him know you're still thinking about him


Baby it's you, you're the one I love, you're the one I needddd (channeling Beyonce today ;P )
Your Romance Concierge


www.romanticsurprise.weebly.com

You Make Me Smile Like The Sun

Super simple. No cost. No elaborate plans. No excuses. EASY guaranteed ways to make a girl smile :)

1. Set her picture as your background
2. Send her flowers
3. Hug her from behind
4. Genuinely compliment her
5. Show that you're proud to be with her
6. Plan a date
7. Surprise her
8. Call her just to say hi
9. Send her sweet texts to wake up to
10. Open the door for her
11. Turn off your phone on a date
12. Tell her you miss her
13. Treat her the same way around your friends as you do when you're alone
14. Tickle her
15. Do something spontaneous
16. Hug her extra long
17. Ask her questions about her day
18. Play with her hair
19. Rub her back
20. Make an effort to know her friends
21. Pull her close by the waist
22. Long romantic texts
23. Be a gentleman
24. Be trustworthy
25. Be loyal
26. Take cute pictures with her
27. Dance with her
28. Cuddle with her
29. Write her a letter
30. Tell her you love her

There's a million more. It's not hard, guys!!! ;)


Lots of love,
Your Romance Concierge


www.romanticsurprise.weebly.com

I'm Finding it Hard to Believe, We're in Heaven

I can't believe it has been 11 years since that tragic day on September 11, 2001. I remember it like it was yesterday- where I was, how I felt, and the turmoil that lasted for months. But our memories of that day can't even compare to those who were directly affected, even to this day. I came across this story today, and I wanted to share.



Buffalo, N.Y. - It was only fitting that on their first date, Sean Rooney and Bev Eckert went to see the movie Camelot, because for 34 years their lives together had the feeling of a fairy tale.
They met when they were 16 at a high school dance.
"She thought he was cute and he waited until the last dance to ask her to dance and then asked for the telephone number," said Beverly's sister Karen.
The two went to Sean's prom together at Canisius High School, and then, well they were just always together, so much so that the two became one.
Scott Brown: "Did it become Sean and Bev- kind of one word?"
Cynthia Blest, Sean's sister: "Absolutely, more quickly said though- SeanandBev."
Karen Eckert: "It was one word, they were together, so compatible and adventuresome, curious about life and wow yeah they were together."
The only thing that Beverly thought could ruin what she and Sean had was marriage and so they waited for 14 years before deciding to have a ceremony in the backyard of her sister Susan's house in East Aurora.
And it was there where the girl from Sacred Heart and the boy from Canisius made official what had simply been a fact for a long time - that they would spend the rest of their lives together.
Susan Bourque, Beverly's sister: "They had family and very close friends. They had the food they wanted, they had the ceremony they wanted, it was exactly what they wanted.
Karen Eckert: "My memories- radiant- Beverly smiling, Sean smiling. She picked out a dress and it was just happiness everywhere."
And after the wedding, Sean and Beverly simply continued on together.
They had a zest for life, a love of family, and most of all, they had each other.
Cynthia Blest: "I think they were the happiest when they were together, I think the second happiest they were when they were together with family."
Sean was a gourmet cook, and an amazing handyman- he renovated the homes they lived in and even built some of their furniture from scratch.
The couple loved to travel - Italy, The Isle of Capri, Cape Cod, Morocco, and in every picture of them you can see how they just adored each other.
Susan Bourque: "They had an amazing relationship. It was always like they were dating still, it was always kind of like a fresh relationship."
They both had good jobs in the insurance industry and had a beautiful home in Connecticut.
And they gave back, volunteering at soup kitchens and donating to charities.
Susan Bourque: "I think they really appreciated how fortunate they were in many ways. They had jobs they enjoyed, they had the freedom to do things, the financial ability to do things, talent and family, good friends, I mean they had so much."
Karen Eckert: "She always felt their life was like Camelot."
In February of 2001, they celebrated Sean's 50th birthday.
And late that summer, Sean and Beverly had some eerily prophetic conversations.
Scott Brown: "I read someplace that one night they were together and Sean said 'you know what, if I die tomorrow I've led such a full and happy life, I'd have no regrets.'"
Karen Eckert: "Yeah it could have even been before the night before September 11th, they were sitting in their sun room and Beverly said it was a beautiful summer night. She said they had several conversations that summer that they had everything, it was almost like a drum roll of what was going to happen."
Two days later, Sean was at work in Tower Two at the World Trade Center when he called and left Beverly this message, four minutes after the first plane struck.
Sean Rooney, September 11th, 2001: "There's been an explosion in World Trade One. That's the other building. It looks like a plane struck it, um on the 90th floor and it's, it's horrible."
Four minutes later, a plane hit the second tower, in the floors below where Sean worked.
He tried to take the stairs to the roof of the building but was trapped.
With smoke filling the stairwell, he called his love.
Karen Eckert: "She was on the phone on the floor and she had the phone cradled to her while she was talking to him."
A few years later, Beverly recounted that last heart breaking conversation with Sean for National Public Radio.
Beverly Eckert from 2005: "He told me he was on the 105th floor and he'd been trying to find a way out. He told me he hadn't had any success and now the stairwell was full of smoke. I asked if it hurt for him to breathe and he paused for a moment and then said no. He loved me enough to lie.
"We stopped talking about escape routes and then we just started talking about all the happiness we shared during our lives together. I told him that I wanted to be there with him but he said no, no he wanted me to live a full life. And as the smoke got thicker he just kept whispering 'I love you over and over'. I just wanted to crawl through the phone lines to him and hold him one last time.
"Then I heard a sharp crack followed by the sound of an avalanche, it was the building beginning to collapse. I called his name into the phone over and over, but I just sat there pressing the phone to my heart."
Susan Bourque: "I think she probably would have traded places with him if she could have, their love was so deep and I don't think she could conceive of life without him at that point."
Scott Brown: "For Sean to say 'I want you to have a good life', what did that mean when he said that?"
Karen Eckert: "That was so Sean, so much like Sean, worried about her and worried about the effect of all, but 'have a good life' and she did that, she did that with a vengeance."
Beverly became one of the founders of the Voices of September 11th- the families' group that pressured the government to investigate how the attacks happened and to develop ways to prevent future attacks.
And as she thought about Sean's words to her about living a full life, Beverly decided one of the ways to do that was to give back and so she became involved with Habitat For Humanity.
Karen Eckert: "And the reason is it does a lot of good things, but also Sean and Beverly had three houses in their life, old houses and they would always redo them top to finish.
"Beverly worked along side of him, so she said what better way I can feel close to him doing Habitat, I can do something good. She used his tools. And it became something loving of her to give back to the world and she said 'I feel close to Sean when I'm doing that', beautiful."
In the years after Sean's death, their love affair continued.
Karen Eckert: "Sean never left her thoughts or her heart or anything. You could tell in the way that she carried on afterward and carried that love forward, it was just burning bright in her the whole time."
On what would have been Sean's 57th birthday, Beverly wrote him a letter. We had her sisters and Sean's read a part of it:
"Something I've come to realize over the past six and a half years Sean is that death has no power over our hearts. Neither yours, nor ours. I want you to know how much you are loved and remembered. You are with us still. All my love, all my life, Beverly."
One year later, on February 12th, 2009, Beverly was flying to Buffalo to celebrate what would have been Sean's 58th birthday, which included a scholarship dinner in his name at Canisius High School.
She was on flight 3407 that crashed in Clarence.
Karen Eckert: "It's almost like a movie script. The irony, the insult, to have her killed in a completely preventable plane crash when she had focused her wrath on the airline industry after 9/11. It's just unbelievable to us. Can you find solace now she doesn't have the pain, now they're together? I don't know, sometimes we think like that too to be honest with you. I don't know."
Scott Brown: "What do you think they're doing now together?"
Karen Eckert: "When I think of them together now I think of them smiling, Neither one ever left, you feel them. I can't explain it, you just feel them everywhere."
Susan Bourque: "My image of the two of them will always be of them sitting outside, maybe in some dappled sunlight with a glass of wine each. And having a good time."
Scott Brown: "Do you think what they had together even though it ended much too soon is something that a lot of people never have?"
Karen Eckert: "Oh absolutely, it's probably one of the most special relationships I've ever been witness to, and for 34 years they had it. And it's like, wow."
And so we end our fairly tale story as we began it.
"We just wanted a happily ever after like Camelot, and I think we did pretty well," said Beverly (in an interview after Sean died)


God Bless America,
Your Romance Concierge


www.romanticsurprise.weebly.com

Come On Baby With Me, We're Gonna Fly Away

It's Sweet Story Sunday! Today's sweet story isn't about romantic love, but a different kind of love- the love of a mother and son, and of strangers reaching out to make a difference.

Taylor Swift wrote this song for a little boy named Ronan, who died of cancer at 4 years old. Swift co-wrote the song with the little boy’s mother, Maya Thompson, after reading one of her blog entries. Thompson has written many heartfelt and emotional posts on her blog Rockstar Ronan about her son and his battle with cancer. In early September, she wrote a post directed to Ronan. She wrote, "I told your Sparkly the other day, 'If Ronan had to die, you can make damn sure I am going to make something amazing come from it. He will change the face of childhood cancer.' I hate that it had to be you. But baby, just maybe, someday, another little boy or girl won't have to die from this disease because of the awareness you are bringing to it." All proceeds from the song will be donated to cancer charities.

 

 

 

To the moon and back,

 

Your Romance Concierge

 

 

 

 

www.romanticsurprise.weebly.com

 

Darling, You Look Wonderful Tonight

What girl doesn't love slow dancing with her guy? A slow dance can be a quick and easy way to add a burst of romance to the end of a date night, or at anytime for that matter. It’s an easy way to reconnect physically and emotionally, and it doesn’t even involve any talking! The key to a perfectly romantic slow dance is picking the perfect song! It can be ‘your song’ or a song that’s lyrics say just what you are feeling in that moment. Songs move us and inspire us. Pick the right one and you can inspire your loved one with some serious romance! There are so many great songs out there, but here is a suggestion for 10 all-time great love songs :)

“At Last” …. Etta James

“When You Say Nothing At All“… Allison Krauss

“Unforgettable“… Natalie Cole & Nat King Cole

“Bless The Broken Road“… Rascal Flatts

“Can’t Help Falling In Love“… Elvis Presley

“The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face“… Roberta Flack

"Wonderful Tonight"... Eric Clapton

“When A Man Loves A Woman“… Percy Sledge

“The Way You Look Tonight“… Michael Buble

“Because You Loved Me“… Celine Dion

 

 

 

La la la,

Your Romance Concierge

 

 

 

 

www.romanticsurprise.weebly.com

She is Love, and She is All I Need

It's been a rough day... here's a good reminder for everyone

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails."

Yours truly,
Your Romance Concierge



www.romanticsurprise.weebly.com