Love At Home

I am blessed.


I am blessed to be a part of a family that expresses their love for one another both verbally and physically. I am blessed with two wonderful parents who not only show unconditional love to me, my husband and my brother, but also to each other. I am blessed with a temple marriage to my best friend and eternal companion. I am blessed with a little brother who will stand by me through thick and thin and who I look up to. I am blessed with aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents who are an important and invaluable part of my life. I am blessed to have married into a wonderful family who has welcomed me in from day one. I am blessed with friends who are simply chosen family.

I am so blessed.

My parents are the perfect example to me of a successful marriage. They are not perfect. In fact, they bicker and snap at each other fairly frequently. But that’s why I think they are perfect. Marriage is not always easy and it’s not always fun. It’s being able to work through the bickering and the snapping that truly shows the strength of a relationship.

As most of you know my parents are currently building a house. Anyone who has ever gone through the process of building a house (and we’re talking from the drawing board, to construction, and soon furnishing) knows it is not an easy process. Because Mom and Dad have been staying with us through much of this process, I have gotten a front row seat to “the show”. Let’s just say that there have been a few “tense moments”. Mom is very opinionated and… so is Dad. We’ve gone round and round about window heights, stair widths, bathroom layouts, adequate storage space, heating vent placements and where to put the trap door to the crawl space. There have been raised voices, sharp tones, and some careless retorts. It has been “entertaining” to say the least.

One night, after a particularly rough day on the job site I was blessed with a reminder about the solid foundation of my parent’s marriage. Jeremy and I had gone to bed, but I wasn’t asleep yet. The acoustics in the back hallway of our house carry any noise from the kitchen straight downstairs and into our bedroom. As I was falling asleep to the sound of my parent’s “house” chatter I heard my dad say to my mom, “I’m so glad that I’m going through this process with you. If it wasn’t for you I wouldn’t be building this house. I love you, Sharon.” My mom returned the sentiment and I fell asleep. What a blessing to have heard those simple feelings shared between two of the most important people in my life. The scriptures say that the wise man built his house upon a rock, and, although this wasn’t exactly what the scripture referred to, my parents built their relationship on the solid rock of their love for one another. When the rains have come tumbling down for them, their house has stood strong because of that amazing and firm foundation.

My parents set a precedence for me regarding what a marriage should look and feel like. It’s okay to have hard times, just always remember the rock you built upon and be sure to appreciate the small and simple things you do for one another. Two nights ago I was at school until 11:45pm working with my thesis chair on my thesis. I was supposed to be home at 7:00pm for dinner, but obviously that didn’t happen. I walked in the door a little after midnight tired, but even more hungry as I hadn’t eaten since 2:00pm. I walked downstairs to find Jeremy and Lani asleep on the couch. The thought of going upstairs and cooking something was daunting and unwelcoming, but what choice did I have. I walked into the kitchen to find dinner waiting for me on the stove and a bowl and spoon laid out for me on the dining room table. I broke down. This simple act of kindness from my husband was enough to move me to tears. I left the food on the stove and ran downstairs. I walked over to the couch and hugged Jeremy. He woke up and immediately asked, “Why are you crying?” When I told him, his response was, “It’s only dinner.” Well sometimes that’s all it takes. “Only dinner” can mean everything. As a side note, however, I found out later that it wasn’t only dinner, Jeremy had also given our dog a much need bath, teeth cleaning, ear cleaning and hair trim.

I’ve had this topic of love at home on my mind for over a week now. It has been a period of reflection and gratitude for me. I guess it’s fitting that I finally wrote these thoughts down on my dad’s birthday. Not that it needs to be reiterated, but he and my mom are ideal examples of love at home. Jeremy and I are not perfect, but we also haven’t had too much practice. Our relationship has come a long way in our short four and a half years of marriage, and I’m grateful for every triumph and every trial. I hope that we continue to perpetuate the love in our home so that someday one of our children can write a journal entry about a sweet, silent expression of love he or she hears one of us say to the other.

There truly is beauty all around.

I am so very blessed.