I Love You . . . A Leetle Bit.

------My Stud Muffin.

I want to share a top secret super duper special tip on marriage. Of course I am full to bursting with a baby . . . I mean "wisdom" on marriage. I'd like to hope that for the most part I am decent wife, but this post isn't about what I do to foster that. This post is actually about being on the receiving end of it. So, young men and husbands - pay attention. Oh wait, do I have any male readers? Hmmmm must rectify situation.

Anywho, my husband is a good man. Plain.and.Simple.  We're 30 and 28 currently and yet have nearly 15 years of togetherness under our belts.  Part of the key to this is: loving each other in little bits. Oh sure, we have a great love for one another on the whole, but little extra bits making an appearance each day are the icing on the cake. The sprinkles on the cookie.  The pickle to my ice cream.  

Here are some of the ways he makes an extra effort that doesn't require a grand gesture, expensive jewels, or fancy shmancy things we don't have money for in the budget anyways. 

1.  Taking the kids outside to play so I can have a few minutes quiet time. Then, returning to the house with smiling kids holding grubby fistfuls of dandy-lions as a "bookay" for mommy.

2.  Being understanding when I simply have no more oomph left in the day and, defeated, say it is cereal for dinner.  Instead of feeling any disappointment or chastisement from him - he claps his hands together at the kids and says "Who wants bananas cut up in their cereal?"  

3.  Hanging out with me in the kitchen while I do make dinner so it isn't a solitary chore. 

4. On the rare occasion we don't have the children with us, he still gets doors for me.  A gentleman, who knew? 

5.  Every now and again he will write me a love letter from him or from him and the kids just because. 

6.  When I'm laying in the tub and my water has gotten cold . . . and we find out the pilot light went out in the water heater . . . he fills my tea kettle and warms up my bath water for me the old fashioned way so I could relax a little while longer.  I wasn't pruney enough yet. (This seriously just happened last night.)

7.  Earlier than usual, he begins asking me if I'm going to bed.  I started to wonder if he was trying to get rid of me.  Maybe he had some man-date with AxMen, Swamp Men, or Men Who Grunt and Itch Their Dangly Parts on the TV.  Turns out once I did go to bed he was in our bedroom surprising me with my blankets warm out of fluffing in the dryer since I said earlier that I was chilly.   (Warning this kind of gift often results in cuddling. It may explain why I'm pregnant again.)

8.  Speaking of pregnant - Benjamin went almost 5 months without having any nighttime popcorn to snack on simply because he knew the scent of popcorn nauseates me during early pregnancy. No complaints or guilt, he nobly sacrificed his love of popcorn and soothed himself with cookies instead.  It was a real hardship I'm sure. 

These things among so many others untold but never unnoticed are ways of showing love with little effort for maximum appreciation.  I don't think he plots and scours his brain for these things either. For the most part they are spur of the moment reactions to each day as it comes. He has chosen to live giving me these extra bits of his love because as wife and mother to his children - I'm worth it in his eyes.  

So, how can you give of yourself to the one you love? What little ways of loving can grow into big things in your marriage?