I read this on social media today and it resonated …
The other day I asked my mother if, after almost 60 years of marriage, she was still in love with my father.
She looked at me with an expression that seemed to say… How can I explain it in a way you’ll understand?
And she didn’t answer. She just smiled…
But when I got home, I looked at my phone and this is what she had written to me:
*"Sometimes you ask me if I’m still in love with him. And I smile, not because the question is silly, but because it’s hard to explain.
How do I say yes, but not like before? Not with butterflies in the stomach, not with fireworks… but with roots.
Love, after so many years, is no longer a feeling that shakes you. It’s a certainty that holds you up. It doesn’t race your heart; it calms your soul. It doesn’t make your hands tremble; it gives you the strength to get up every day.
There are no more surprises, but there are rituals: coffee at the same time, silly arguments about how to hang the towels, the way we cover each other when one of us sneezes. They don’t seem like big things… but they are.
At this point, I no longer expect grand romantic gestures.
I expect him to listen when my back hurts. To hug me when I break. To not leave me alone when I don’t even understand myself.
And he does. Quietly. Without display. He’s simply there.
Loving after a lifetime together isn’t like in the books.
It’s more like having your own language, one no one else understands.
A way of looking at each other that only makes sense when you’ve lived the same pain, the same exhaustion, the same desire to keep going.
So yes, I am still in love with him. But not like at the beginning.
I’m in love with everything we’ve built. With the peace that comes from knowing that, even in the storm, he is still my refuge."*
It struck me as a beautiful LESSON IN LOVE.
My Sunday and Monday were filled with tennis and football. It was my own heaven on earth!
Nothing else to report, except I think I need some sleep! Tennis is eating into my sleeping hours big time!
Oh and we’ve had 8mm of rain today. Light and steady.
I received an accidental text from my first mother-in-law (or mother-in-love as we used to say) and it was lovely to connect, even if it wasn’t planned.
She was sending birthday wishes to somebody else, but selected my name instead. She is 94 years old and joked that to make such a mistake, she might be going senile haha.
I also received news of a gentleman in Griffith who, at the age of 91, has passed away.
He was a school bus driver and he was so kind to the kids. He remembered every name and all their birthdays and wished every child a good morning, a happy day and a goodbye as they disembarked.
He was such a lovely, kind man with a wonderful smile and was always respectful to parents from every walk of life.
91 is a good innings and he will be missed by many humans from many generations.
RIP Bill Brown.
Now I’m off to sleep.
Nite all.
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