Genuine Pick Up Lines and Words of Endearment

Isaac: "Dad, how do you spell 'heaven'?"
Rex: "J-U-L-I-E."

I overheard this 2-line conversation. Cheesy?  Maybe.  Sweet?  Definitely.  Sincere?  Yes.  That's the difference between a pick up line that works and one that doesn't.  And sometimes, it's even sweeter when you weren't meant to hear it, like that one.

I admit, it's nice to hear my husband tell me he thinks I'm hot or otherwise physically attractive.  But I also admit that if I hear it way more than any other compliment, I start feeling like that's all there is.  So when he said, "I love your soul," you can understand how beautiful that made me feel.  It reminded me of a line I read somewhere "I fell in love with your energy."  It's a much more specific, creative, and unique way of saying that all-too-familiar phrase that makes us cringe because (in our religious culture) it has the underlying implication that she isn't pretty: "she has such a sweet spirit." While the latter is said with derision, the former indicate that the man finds the beauty within her radiates without and makes her that much more beautiful. It's even better than being told you are pretty or hot.

My (short-lived) boyfriend in high school was full of cheesy pick-up lines.  Sure they were cute, but it made me incredibly uncomfortable.  I'm sure it partly had to do with the fact that I was terrible at accepting or believing compliments, but mostly, I just couldn't, for the life of me, buy into their authenticity.  He was so flattering, he simply oozed with sweetness.  It was hard to take.  So much so that I've forgotten all but one term of endearment: he would call me Sweet Tart, like the candy.  I absolutely hated it, in its barbed sincerity.  I was painfully aware I was prickly, didn't know how to let someone touch me, and lacked tact.  It was something I was not proud of, so it felt more like a backhanded compliment, like saying I was such a "sweet spirit."

My Johnny Lingo is so well practiced in his exultant verse, I not only believe he thinks I am all that he says I am, but I believe it myself.  Who needs gifts and roses when you have a poet? That is the hallmark of a true romantic soul.