Hubs didn't have to leave for work yesterday until Noonish, so he made some oatmeal for our breakfast and I found him seated at the kitchen counter. He pulled up a seat for me too and I filled my bowl with the hearty stuff and joined him.

 

After chatting a bit my hand flew to my mouth with a gasp and tears filled my eyes. I had suddenly seen the yellow rose bud in my blue vase sitting right in front of me. Have no idea why I cried. It was just so sweet and I so loved the way he had carefully arranged our red salt & pepper shakers on either side of the bloom. He had cut the rose from our bush in the backyard at some point and the thoughtfulness just messed this girl up bad. He was then embarrassed at my strong reaction, as if he never did such romantic things. He does and I still have no idea why I got teary eyed. 

About five minutes later he was taking a big sip of coffee and one of those pesky little tickles touched the back of his throat and the scene you see pictured above was spewed with brown droplets far and wide. We both laughed so hard while reaching for napkins to begin the clean-up. The window, the sugar bowl, the counter was a coffee flavored polka-dot mess.

 

This man, this best friend that I live with is my favorite puzzle to figure out. Married 35 years does not mean we know enough to explain one another. He is complicated, I am complicated, and we are both an unsolvable mystery that keeps us on our toes. I need this person in my life and he needs me, though I think his need is smaller than mine. 

A single rose bud of yellow placed lovingly in a tall blue vase is an intricate love letter that even the writer does not understand. The message sent is sometimes different than the message received. Love is like that. Little things can easily outweigh big things in the world of love between a man and a woman. And I am recently becoming keenly aware of the shortness of life and the reality that we will not have one another by our sides here on earth forever. Not the "forever" that it felt like on our wedding day anyway. Forever is getting shorter and must not be wasted.

Look at the humans around you in your daily life and cherish what you have with them. Not in a morose or "we're all gonna die!" kind of attitude, but in a "I love you and want to enjoy it all while we can" sort of way. Look beyond the little irritants. Those ordinary quirks or annoyances are an ingredient of the one you love or the ones you've been thrown into a family alongside. Embrace them as some of the spice and flavor that add up to the person you care about. 

Laughing or crying, we need one another and when you are free to do both with someone, you are blessed.