How many ways can someone love?

This post won’t be as philosophical as the title suggests. But I do want to share a short story that illustrates one way my husband chose to show me he loves me.

Last night, at about 2am, our damn cat barfed in our bed. I think every pet owner’s ears become super sensitive to the sounds of their animal about to yak (I bet kids are the same way), but this came without warning and woke me up instantly. Ugh. So, it required lamps being turned on, clean up efforts, sheets being changed, and some stomping around and grumbling to be able to return to sleep.

However, I was wide awake and couldn’t get comfortable again. Plus, the smell of cat barf at 2am made my stomach start to turn so I was just a pile of pissed off uncomfortableness and from the feel of it, so was Rob. I think half an hour ticked by with both of us turning and fidgeting before Rob finally decided to turn his lamp on and get out of bed. “Where are you going?” I mumbled. “Mumble Grumble…” he trailed off. “Make me a peanut butter and jelly sandwich!” I called after him. Now, this request is funny because we have no bread in the house, and I can’t recall the last time we did. So it wasn’t an actual request, just something I asked to try and lighten his mood a little.

I laid there for a few minutes and could hear him clanking around so I got up and walked into the kitchen to investigate. What I saw made me smile, and give thanks for the sweet human I get to spend my days and nights with.

Boy was standing at the counter in the dim light of the stove lamp, and had retrieved 4 small gluten free crackers from the pantry and was gingerly dabbing a small glob of peanut butter and jelly onto them. “What are you doing?” I asked. “Making peanut butter and jelly for you” he replied in a sleepy voice. He pushed two crackers together and handed me one “sandwich” and then smushed the other two together and kept it for himself. So I took it, and ate it quietly, and in in this act of love communion, I pondered how many ways someone could love another. Well, I pondered as deeply as 2:30 am would allow a human to ponder something like that.

But I’ve reflected on it throughout the day today, and find myself still lost in the possibilities of the answers. Rob and I have enjoyed 5 years of marriage so far, and just when I think that I’ve figured out the love language dialogue between us, he gets out of bed to honor an impossible request and sweeps me off of my feet in a totally new way.

It’s funny how interruptions in what we think we should be doing, or what we want to really be doing, give way to sweeter opportunities. I never figured our rude cat would be a catalyst for something so meaningful, but I’ll take it.