As I sat looking at the ocean in Los Cabos this past weekend I realized my big love lesson of life. It's not that we (my fiancé and I) were fortunate enough to be at the beach, but it's the every day little things that make love feel like love to me.
It's how he refers to my daughter as our daughter. How he moved his work schedule so that he can pick 'our daughter' up early 3 days a week. How he will leave me the last coffee pod or the last splash of half and half. It's making the phone call to get new homeowner's insurance after our last policy was canceled. It's ordering our fourth bed because the last three have left my hips in debilitating pain. It's printing the board passes and grabbing my passport for any and all trips. It's telling me how much he loves me on a daily basis. It's putting up with two crazy dogs who are at his feet all day long as he works from home.
We were sitting on the perfect lounge chairs in Mexico, because of him. He got up early and took our towels and books down to secure lounge chairs on the pool's edge overlooking the ocean. (Resorts and pool lounge chairs being saved is another whole thing!) It's also the way he laughs when I tell him I bought 'White Lotus' loungewear for our trip.
The little things are also about what he doesn't do. He doesn't feel the need to watch a bad Hallmark movie with me and will do his own thing. He doesn't text me a million times when I'm out with my girlfriends or ask when I'll be home. He doesn't criticize my lack of a sense of direction, instead gently turns me the the right way. He honestly never criticizes me, and knows what a trigger criticism can be for me.
Love to me isn't about the grandiose. Yes, he surprised me with a trip to Vegas to see George Strait and surprised me with our engagement. All of that was wonderful, but the real glitter glue of love is the little things. It's the laughter and not taking things too seriously, it's being present when we're talking and knowing that I love spicy food but my stomach doesn't. It's knowing that I hate sitting next to the bathrooms or wait stations at a restaurant and moving us before I say anything. It was him recognizing that I hadn't been myself and was having a really tough battle with January blues and post Covid exhaustion. It's the little things.
Our recent trip was the magic that we needed it to be. We laughed a lot and just had fun together. I remember looking over at him on our perfect lounge chairs and silently listing the things I was grateful for. I do this not to be sappy, but simply because I don't want to take him for granted. I also make sure to tell him because I want him to know that I see him, I see what he does and that I appreciate all the little things.
xox
Melissa
