It's This

The moment he was on his knee, ring in hand asking me to be his wife, I knew it was the right decision. I actually knew long before I ever loved him that somehow, someway, sometime I would be his wife. I saw my future with startling clarity.

But it wasn't the moment that he put that beautiful engagement ring on my finger that I felt the most loved. '

Nor was it when he stood with me on our wedding day, promising me the sun and the moon and stars, that I felt the most loved. 

Not even those sacred moments with our babies right after they were born and it was just us. Just those moments in time that seemed to last and last. Those hours of labor when we suffered together, and then our private moments, just us three when we celebrated together. 

No, it was this moment. 

And this one. It would have gone so much faster if he did it himself. But no, he let his boy drive nails in the roof, taking the time to explain why and how to do it best.

It was this moment. When it would have been neater and faster and way more convenient just to do it himself.

It was this moment when we knew the brushes would get dropped in the dirt, the paint would drip in places we didn't want to and they would lose interest at the most inconvenient moment.

Then there is this. A tiny girl, wearing the pink helmet he insisted she should have for when she rides the four wheeler, and the time he has spent chasing her in circles while he let this little person drive by herself. It's neither here nor there that she has hit the house twice, a bush once and most recently wedged the four wheeler up under our fence.

It's this moment when with a million things to do, a dozen different directions he could go, a to-do list that literally revolves round and round in dizzying circles, that there is still time for a quiet moment to snuggle his babe. Always, always room in his packed schedule for this. 

The moments when I see his love for me in the most visible and tangible way, the times I feel so deeply and wonderfully loved,  is in the moments when I see him with our children.

It's this.