I don't know why I was thinking about this in bed last night. I have always heard the saying, "True love is not a feeling; it's a decision." I would have said that I believed this statement before getting married. But I did not fully comprehend it's meaning until after marriage. Dating is such a highly emotional time of life. During that time, I woke up thinking of Matt, and I went to bed analyzing everything he said that day. I wanted to do things to make him happy all the time. I thought about him at work. I talked about him to everyone that would listen. Over dinner, (at some expensive restaurant), Matt told me how beautiful I was and how blessed he was to have found me. Now, over dinner (at our dining room table), our conversations sound like this: "No, no Brooke! We don't throw our peas off our tray," and "So do you want dish duty or Brooke duty after dinner?" Now, after 2 1/2 years of marriage, I don't feel those giddy, "warm fuzzies" every time he looks at me. Sure, I'm still very attracted to him. But it's a settled feeling now. I'm confident in our commitment. Sometimes, he drives me crazy by saying insensitive GUY remarks. Sometimes I wake up in the morning irritated at him for no reason (blame it on those dang pregnancy hormones). Always, I am thankful for him and secure in his love for me and his commitment to this family. So now I would say, true love is not a feeling but it is still more than a decision; it is a COMMITMENT. I am committed to him until "death do us part" and I know he is committed the same to me. Even when I'm upset or irritated, I am still committed. And this, I believe, is love. Not the infatuation "high" known as dating. It was a great time in life but I wouldn't trade our relationship now for anything. So, in the Schrand family, here are some examples of "true love":
-True love is Matt working his rear end off at his job so that I can stay home with Brooke.
-True love is me being willing to (almost) always get up with Brooke early in the morning because Matt is a "night owl," and rarely goes to bed before midnight.
-True love is Matt being willing to watch Brooke every week while I have "girl time" even if he has a ton of paperwork.
-True love is my attempting to keep the house clean, so it looks good when Matt gets home (he hates a messy house)
-True love is Matt massaging my ugly, swollen, 3rd- trimester- pregnant feet because they hurt so bad I can hardly walk.
-True love is me being willing to not have pets because Matt is not a pet person.
-True love is Matt walking around walmart with me every Sunday night so I don't have to take Brooke grocery shopping by myself.
Many more examples I could list, but Brooke is awake and I must get dinner started. Feel free to add examples of love from your relationship in the comments. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment