Good Old Chivalry

Why going back to basics might be what you're in need of.

At one point, chivalry defined a gentleman's behavior. I sometimes wonder if chivalry is dead in today's digital age, but it's not exactly a black-and-white answer. Instead, it's more like chivalry has evolved, influenced heavily by social media and the convenience of online ordering. I recently received some flowers from my husband, which got me thinking… Would I rather receive flowers that are not as fancy and exaggerated and be physically given them by my husband, or would I rather receive over-the-top, ridiculously expensive flowers from a delivery guy that my husband ordered online?

My husband has always bought me flowers for our anniversary and my birthdays, but the majority of the time I’ve received them from a stranger delivering them to my doorstep. If I recall correctly, I think I’ve only directly received flowers from my husband's hands a few times. Those few times were at the beginning of our relationship, and once was most recently the day before my birthday. Every time he’s ordered my flowers online, they have been the most beautiful bouquets I’ve ever seen…huge bouquets with types of exotic flowers I’d never seen before, full of vibrancy, and without fail, always put a smile on my face.

The day before my birthday, we headed out to our town center to run a few errands together, and as I came out of the grocery store, my husband was standing waiting for me with a bouquet of flowers in his hands. I cannot begin to tell you how happy this made me. I was happier than when I usually received flowers online from him. Don’t get me wrong, when I first started receiving the huge, expensive bouquets online from him, I used to feel extremely loved and excited. However,  eventually, you become used to them, and you kind of know what to expect. I’d be lying if I said I wanted this to completely stop…once a year would be great! What woman doesn’t want to receive an expensive bunch of exotic flowers?!

My point is, that 'seeing' him standing there with a simple bouquet of flowers he had physically picked out himself gave me another level of joy. Compared to today's trending huge bouquets that are more Instagrammable than anything else, it was a simple and smaller bouquet, but it meant so much more to me. When we got home, (for the first time in ages) I cut the stems and arranged them into a vase, whereas when I received the ‘huge bouquets’ from a delivery guy, everything was already done for me because they arrived in a vase for convenience. Something about seeing a smaller yet beautiful vase of sunflowers on my dining table made me feel good for days.

I guess this goes to show that although our lives are now based around convenience and what looks good for the gram, sometimes going back to basics can evoke more emotion and love than what we’ve become used to over the past few years.