Team '76: The gum and the coffee

Dear Paul-

The other day I heard you and Kyle talking in the living room. I was being introverted and hiding in the bedroom when I heard Kyle ask you if you had taken some of his gum. You said no and then he asked if I might have taken it. You said, "no, Cinnamon doesn't really like gum." My heart melted and a smile crept across my face. 

I felt more loved in that moment than I would have if you would have come home with a huge bouquet of flowers and a giant box of sea salt chocolates. 

Normally when offered gum, I usually politely decline and don't mention anything else, but I'm sure I've mentioned to you at some point in our five years of knowing each other how gum makes me gag and I have to spit it out right away. I know its not something we've discussed at length and I honestly had no idea that you even paid attention or remembered this tiny insignificant fact about who I am as a person. 

Thank you for noticing. 

Every single morning for as long as I can remember, you have been more of an early riser than I am. Every single morning you get up and head to the Keurig and make coffee for the both of us. When you used to leave the house really early you would leave me love notes along with the cup. Recently, the minute I wake up, that hot cup is already by my bedside just waiting for me. 

Thank you for providing. 

I am so appreciative of how involved you are in keeping my air tank full. Paying attention to the little things and taking care of me day in and day out despite all the things that get in the way communicates more to me than words or grand gestures ever could. 

Our marriage is not one that I would describe as endlessly romantic, gazing into each others eyes, you twirling me around the streets of Italy while I'm wearing a flowy skirt ending in a grasping hug where we hold on to each other and whisper in each others ears about how much we love love. Part of me is attracted to love stories like that, but I'm also slightly cautious because no matter how a scene like that may be possible, its just not all that realistic to live out in an every day kind of way. 

Our romance is one that consists of giggle sessions on the couch where one of us cracks a joke about something that may be hilarious to only the two of us, but really that's all that matters. Its one of willingly putting down Candy Crush to rub feet after a long day. Its picking up a fountain diet coke on the way home for me when you know I'm needing one. Its "showing up" every day, again and again even when you are tired or cranky or more interested in doing what you want to do. 

In no way is it what I would describe as easy. And ultimately its not something the two of us can do on our own. But, it's utterly and absolutely beautiful in so many ways when you experience something that God intended as intended. Thank you for loving me the way God created you to love and for being a man committed to covenant. 

<3

Cinn