Relationships Take Work And Effort

One of our favorite topics on the morning show is relationships and dating. Gwen is sure that romance and the idea of putting effort and energy into dating is completely lost on the younger generation--as men these days don't do ANY of the things we did when we were that age and trying to woo our prospective loves and get their attention. And Gwen isn't alone. So many of the single women I know nowadays concur. There's no imagination. No effort. No energy. "Today's male does nothing but lay around when they aren't at work and play video games or hang out with friends. You're lucky if they make an effort to actually speak to you on the phone for 20 minutes instead of texting". That's what my friend Robin from Tampa told me in a recent conversation about the topic.

I remember the dating stage and leaving hand written notes all over the place, sending flowers just because (NOT because I was in trouble because we had had a fight), texting that I was thinking about her and then talking on the phone for not just 20 minutes--but for more like 2 hours... It's sad-but it's a biproduct of this generation's "Everything's been handed to me and I don't have to work for it" syndrome. There are exceptions to that rule and I've been fortunate enough to know a few. But MEN--we need to teach our sons the value of working hard and earning what you have. And that doesn't mean strictly possessions... It means the relationships in your life-from friendships to romantic to familial. Some values should just NEVER go away, no matter how much time or generations have come and gone.

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When I proposed to my wife Vicki, I had arranged for her best friend to come up to suburban Chicago (a 3 hour drive from St. Louis), as well as her mom who has since passed away, and a few other good friends... I arranged for everyone to meet at the park where we first met the previous year and took our dogs for a walk together, after talking on line (we met on Plenty of Fish) and then on the phone for a few weeks. I hired a DJ, and got a good friend of hers to be the "delivery person" and get her to the park. Here's how the day unfolded:

I had her mom and friends meet me and the DJ at the park the morning of. I ordered pizzas delivered to the location at the park for lunch, and her friend told her that her mom's dog was injured at the park and that they had to go rescue her (wife is a Certified Vet Tech). So Vicki got in the car with her... And they pulled up down the row from where we were all set up. I had everyone sitting in folding chairs with newspapers covering their faces so Vicki couldn't see her mom and best friend sitting there.... Just a bunch of people sitting and reading the paper. When she walked up--the DJ said on the mic "Drop 'em"--and everyone dropped their newspapers, revealing their identities. And that's when I took over:

I have decided to call this "A Tutorial For Today's Young Men". Thanks for watching and reading! We'd love to hear YOUR romantic stories. Call the show and tell us or drop us a note here.