Yesterday my sister Jennifer got married and became Mrs. Jennifer Germano. It was a beautiful day, perfectly representative of who she and Derek are. A gathering of friends and family, everyone enjoying the celebrations from afternoon right through into the night.
Seeing the last of my sisters get married, and realizing that there will be no more weddings in my family, made me think about the examples of love I have in my life. Three things immediately came to mind. Funny enough, they are all small things, tokens of someone's love that are seemingly unimportant, but to me stand for so much more.
The first is from my dad. (Mom, don't read this if you want to keep it his secret!) A couple weeks back we were talking about those nightly cravings you get. You know, when all you want is a bag of chips or a chocolate bar or (fill in the blank with your favourite treat) but it's 10pm and you just don't feel like running out. Sometimes love is when your partner does run out for you. But how is this for foresight? My dad shared with me that he keeps a few of my mom's favourite chocolate bars stashed away, so that if she's had a particularly challenging day and she really does need a snack, he can slip away and pull one "out of the air."
The second example is from my mom. Many years ago a friend of hers noted that my dad seemed to help out a lot around the house, doing whatever it was my mom asked of him. My mom then bragged that indeed he would do anything she asked. Her secret? She would never ask him to do anything she knew he would really hate doing.
The last example is one of my very own, from James. James always fills up the cars with gas. I can't tell you the last time I pumped my own gas! Even with two vehicles now, and me using the van more often than James, I still don't have to hit the gas station. The perfect example of this happened just this evening: tomorrow I have a long car ride (5 hours round trip) ahead of me, and so after the kids were in bed James actually went out and filled up the car with gas. I didn't ask him to, nor did I tell him the gas was low. He knew I had the trip tomorrow, that the tank was half empty (after I drove it today!) and that with tomorrow being Sunday, I would prefer not to have to fill up then.
Now, I must jump in here and say that I have no aversion to pumping gas. I know how to do it and am perfectly willing to do it. After all, I do use the gas! But this is just James' way of taking care of me, demonstrating his love for me. It really is the little things...that's love.
2 comments:
I think the little things matter more than anything.
We go through the Tim's across the street from my work every morning on the way to drop me off, and I get an iced coffee, every morning, to sip throughout the morning.
The other morning had already had a rough start, and when we got to Tim's, they had no iced coffee (how does this happen? I don't know).
So, I got to work in a grumble because it had been just one thing after another that morning. About 15-20 minutes later, I looked up to see Aaron standing in my classroom with an iced coffee. He had gone to a different Tim's, out of the way, to get me one.
Was this a grand gesture? No. Just a small act of kindness. But it was a nice surprise, and my day was already that much better.
That's too sweet! I think it's the little things because it means that our partner is thinking about us even when we're not together, and paying attention to the details of who we are.
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