A gentle reminder on loving someone

Yesterday, I was reminded to express my love to my husband. That he too needs to feel like he is being courted, desired and loved.

It is rather painful for me to have to be told this - since I know that this knowledge should really be demonstrated by default in my day to day life...shouldn't it?

Busy days and nights translate to a very busy me. I find myself furiously trying to complete each task just so I can get through each day. Unfortunately, this results in lesser attention to Mr B.

To be completely honest, I find it easy to put Mr B's needs aside. He is always out the door the same time as Reb and I are (7:30am) and back home really late, on average 9 to 10pm. He continues to work for another 1.5 to 2.5 hours and falls asleep often later than I do. So really, we don't get to spend much time with each other.

We catch up with each other via text messages, emails or the odd 5 to 10 minute bedside chat. There are days that we are so caught up with our duties that we don't speak to each other through the day. We've tried to enforce regular date nights but they don't work so well for us, so now we go for the impromptu ones - the odd errand run or the occasional dinner out. It has indeed been tough to keep up with each other and find time to slow down to enjoy one another.

So I really appreciate this gentle reminder. From a doctor none the less. To provide more attention to my husband.

With this encouragement, I woke up this morning and furiously prepared a breakfast Bento for him to take to work. Some sliced fragrant pear, pan fried sausages, two de-shelled pigeon eggs and a slice of toast. I also packed him a box of mixed nuts for him to snack at work and two tumblers of white fungus dessert, one to share with his friend. Yeah, its like a school yard over there ... and Mr B has got a habit of sharing his food. I topped it off with 3 homemade cupcakes that I had whipped up a couple of days ago and included 2 bananas for him.

After hurriedly packing my own breakfast and lunch AND feeding the little one who decided that she felt like circling around me and getting in my way, I rushed off to changed and we set off for our day together.

My cup was already filled to the brim having the knowledge that I had accomplished what I set out to do in the short span of 30 minutes. What caused it to overflow was when I opened my inbox at work and found a note of thanks from Mr B.

This short one-liner email touched me deeply and has given us a chance to return to our dating days for that short moment - when nothing clouds the expression of appreciation that we have of each other, before "adult" life took over.

It also brings to mind the lessons that my mother has always been teaching me all these years - that food ministry is a very powerful one. It is why she taught my brother and I to appreciate the art of cooking at a very young age and why she constantly encourages us to use food to touch others.

So yeah - that's my revelation for today.