Exactly How They Need to Be Loved

There's just nothing better than loving someone.
Exactly how they need to be loved.

Though it's true that such activity sometimes lends itself to outright criticism, I know it still to be true. What others call spoiling or pampering or - on the frown side - neglecting or all-out failing to take care of, you or I call loving someone.

And, really, who cares what anyone else thinks?

I sometimes grade my success in this area by asking one simple question: "If I weren't me but, instead, was the husband or any one of the three bebes, what're the few things I'd want now and again?"

I'd want sheets that smell fresh from the laundry. And the smell of dinner cooking when I entered the door. And clean socks and underwear that magically appear and re-appear in my drawers each morning. And homemade treats in fancy tins. And a mommy who actually knows how to do my homework when I need help. Or a wife who makes just about anything from scratch...and does all the minor home repairs while she's at it.

But I find I'd want those things because, in large part, they're what my people want. In this way, I s'pose, I've figured out the prime ways to love them.

And I think that's marvelous.

Last night, I made Southern Pecan Pralines for my husband. He came home a couple weeks ago and said, "Babe, we're having a Christmas work party and have been asked to bring a dish to share. If you'll make something for it, I'll tell them what I can bring."

HAPPINESS TIP: It's all in the delivery. For some time, I've stopped "judging" how the delivery between long-married folk ought to work and, instead, focused on on how ours works. Now, I LOVE this delivery. It's perfect for me. Pointed, but still asking. And note that he knows I'll prefer to make something for it. Not buy.

So what's the point? Well, I love knowing that, after 14 years of marriage (not to mention another two of courtship), my man genuinely knows how to talk to me. And I to him. Makes me giddy.

It's also the point that homemade pralines are a candy Craig will most certainly love and enjoy taking. I picked them because of that. And wrapped them in a fancy tin...perched atop the counter, ready for him to scoop up on his way out this morning.

After he'd eaten the dinner cooking upon his return, slept beneath the clean sheets, wore the socks and underwear, and breathed clean air through filters he didn't even have to change.

Yes, there's just nothing better than loving someone.
Exactly how they need to be loved.