It’s when you’re leaving for work on a frigid morning and find that the ice has already been scraped off your windshield.
It’s when one cooks and the other does the dishes.
It’s when one gets up with a crying baby in the middle of the night so the other can get some sleep.
It’s a word of encouragement when you need it most.
It’s when one will be honest about unflattering pants or a booger situation and the other can trust their motives.
It’s when two people find each other attractive first thing in the morning.
It’s when someone accepts your family as their own.
It’s when you both take full responsibility for the maintenance of your shared living space.
It’s giving compliments freely and sometimes publicly and criticizing constructively and always privately.
It’s knowing someone’s secrets, pet peeves, and simple pleasures.
It’s having someone who will tell you the truth even when they know you would rather not hear it.
It’s being someone’s home base.
It’s giving your all to protect them.
It’s listening to someone vent without judging them.
It’s being their biggest advocate and most trusted confidante.
It’s having someone who will warm your cold feet.
It’s sharing inside jokes and knowing looks.
It’s offering the last bite and not begrudging them when they take it.
Love is putting in the work of having a successful marriage after all these years when it’s so easy to take each other for granted.
Bottom line – if you both put each other’s happiness before your own, you both win. Roses and candlelight are lovely, but they just scratch the surface. True love is not only for better or for worse. Its for the mundane, the boring, the frightening, the agonizing, the exuberant, the surprising and the wonderful.
A guy who will get you take-out hot & sour soup when you have the flu – that is love
