Showing Love

I recently read a book by Thrity Umrigar called Honor.  It is a beautiful book and I highly recommend it. Throughout the book, love is a constant theme.  Although the quote below is referring to romantic love between adults, it struck a chord with me in terms of how we love our children, maybe especially those with special needs.

The parenting version of this might be: loving your kids isn’t all amusement parks and waterslides. It’s the daily support and care we give them. Being steady, consistent and steadfast in our mission to get them as close as possible to independent adulthood.

We say it and show it

Each night when I tuck Mikey into bed, I say, “I love you so so so so” and he says, “much.”

I say, “Sweetest dreams.” And he says, “I will see you in morning.”

So much of how I love him is through showing up. I help him get ready for school, I make his meals, I help him put on his favorite TV shows and I take him out to do the fun things he likes.  

I say, “I love you” all the time, but I show him that I love him by being present for him.

Another Fun Example

Yesterday, Dave said that a cord of wood was getting dropped off. He had ordered it because the price is better in the summer. We have a wood burning fireplace and he knows that I love to have fires in the Fall and Winter.  He thought about what makes me happy day to day and he took a step to make my life better.

As we were both sweating, stacking the firewood that had been dumped on the driveway, he said, “Now you can have a fire any night you want.”

Love you too, Dave! xo