How do I love thee?
Jeffrey R. Holland pointed out once that real love is shown in the “how.” How is it manifested? How do I reveal my love for you?
Matt is the perfect example of showing how he loves me. Yesterday, he showed me how in a million ways. :)
The weather has been odd. It is different every day. We have been trying to keep a pretty close eye on it so that we can do my last two yoga videos. Yesterday seemed perfect…rainy in the morning (to keep people away from the parks) and sunny immediately after. So he asked his boss for the day off even though it wasn’t a great time to do that at work. (HOW #1.) But, I accidentally forgot to ask someone to watch the girls for us while we went to do it. I felt very discouraged, because the weather was supposed to get cold again and we wouldn’t have another shot for a week or two, and by that time, the mosquitoes would be terrible! So he figured out ways to keep the girls happy while we were filming and was more than kind about it all. (HOW #2.)
We went to our pre-designated location after it stopped raining, and he got everything set up wonderfully and encouraged me every second. (HOW #3). He played with the girls while keeping an eye on the camera…making picnics for them and playing duck duck goose. (HOW #4). As time wore on, the girls got tireder and so did he. But he never once asked if we could hurry up or stop. (HOW #5).
Then, when we finished one, the weather was just so perfect that I had to gumption to ask if we could try to do the second one then and just get it all done with in one day. He didn’t even flinch, even though I knew he was exhausted with watching the girls for hours already. (HOW #6.) He then blazed a path through the woods to find the perfect spot and did the whole process all over again, this time with much tireder girls than before, and this time holding the baby, as well. (HOW #7, 8, 9, …….)
Not once did he complain or even frown. He was kind and encouraging the entire time even though the girls dumped out our last bottle of water in the mud and started to eat the mud pie that they had made. (HOW #101). He carried two chairs, a baby, a toddler, a tripod, etc., through a hot humid forest. (HOW #1000000000).
Then on the way home I remembered I needed to go in for a blood draw, so he waited out in the hot car with tired muddy kids while I went in and did that. (HOW #2000000000000)
He was so genuinely happy and overjoyed to see how happy it made me to be completing another goal and dream of mine! He truly takes joy in my happiness. :) (HOW #2423943984398)
So last night, I wanted to show him HOW I loved him! I found a movie he really loves…not a “bonnet movie,” but a “laser movie!” A real guy movie! (I’m not sure he even knew they existed anymore!! It’s all pooh bear and Jane Austen here.) But instead, as soon as we put the movie in, my own tiredness hit me with one of those pesky female emotional breakdowns, and I needed to talk and cry.
HOW #3 trillion: Even after the kind of day he’d had, he turned off the “laser movie” and listened to his wife and held her for 2 1/2 hours until she was done talking and crying and was smiling again.
How does he love me? Let me count the ways!!!
I am the most blessed woman I can think of, and it’s not because of a man who does huge flashy things for me. It’s because of a man who gives all his time, all his kindness, all his love, all of himself, to me. I only hope I can do a fraction of what he does, for him. I cannot imagine what my life would be like if I were not married to him.
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