A couple of weeks ago, I saw the cutest act of romance…
Isn’t that the sweetest gesture? I love the idea that the writer’s fiancé noticed how much reaching the milestone of 100 subscribers meant to her, and how he celebrated it with such a personal gift.
After reading that post, I felt inspired to look for all the small and big ways that my husband, Max, and I care for each other. Here are a few things I’ve come up with…
1. If I’ve had a long day, Max will put me to bed with a head massage, and he’ll play with my hair, which feels amazingly comforting. If he’s stressed or exhausted, I’ll give him shoulder rubs and foot rubs, while asking about his day and relaying all the funny things the kids have recently said or done.
2. If anything breaks around the house, Max will fix it — immediately. Earlier this week, our oven broke, and that same evening, I walked outside while he was grilling dinner and I found him watching “How to fix your oven” online tutorials. The next evening, our oven was up and running. As a teenager, I thought romance was all about slow dances in the moonlight and writing love songs. But now, as a woman in my 30s, I love having a partner who solves big and small house problems right away. That, my friends, is hot.
3. Ever since our daughter Ella was born four years ago, Max has surprised both of us with gorgeous Valentine’s Day bouquets. Ya’ll, I’ve never received flowers like this in my life, and it feels so good to have a guy with great taste in flowers! This year, I asked him why he decided to give extravagant bouquets to Ella, too, and he said, “Because she appreciates the fine things in life, and it’s so funny how the arrangements are as big as she is.”
4. Every morning, at 4:30 a.m. on the dot, I’ll wake up with Max’s alarm (that construction worker schedule!) and will myself out of bed to make him a fresh pot of coffee. I do this partly so that he’ll have a caffeinated beverage to keep him alert on his early drive. But I also do it to stand in solidarity during his brutal wakeup times, even though I always fall back into bed after I give him a sendoff kiss at the front door.
5. One the eve of our wedding anniversary (we’re hitting seven years this May!), I always bake us a batch of Joy the Baker’s overnight biscuit cinnamon rolls. Max, who has a major sweet tooth, goes nuts for these tender rolls with a hint of nutmeg. I love seeing him smile when I bring out a plate of them.
How about you? What big or small ways does your partner make you feel loved, and vice versa? Keeping up our marriage, along with our careers and kids and all the hard things in this world, can sometimes feel hard. But over the years, I’ve learned that looking for little things you can do to make your partner feel appreciated makes such a big difference.
P.S. Eight reader comments on marriage, and how sweet are these proposal stories?
