A few weeks ago, I had one of those crazy parent days. Everything seemed to go wrong. The kids had bad attitudes, they fought all day, the house was a mess and dinner ended up being fast food because I was so worn out. To make matters worse, I lost my temper. When moments like this happen, which isn’t often, I feel crushed and horrendously guilty. I feel as if I’m a terrible parent.
When the kids are finally in bed, I start unloading on my husband. To calm my nerves, he pours me a glass of wine. I drink it down while ranting to him. He pours me another glass, I drink that down and start crying to him about how much I love our kids and how I would do anything for them!
I start feeling better and we are laughing together. I feel younger than thirty-five. I feel weightless after having confessed all my problems to the love of my life. I start in on my third glass of wine, which honestly never happens and then I feel it. My stomach starts to churn. I’m feeling dizzy and nauseated. I look right at my husband and exclaim, “I’m going to throw up!”
I run to the bathroom and there I am, puking in the porcelain bowl. My husband just follows me in, rubs my shoulders and holds my hair back, just like he used to do long ago, before we had kids. He makes light of the whole situation, by laughing quietly and taking me up to bed.
He brings me a water bottle and then tucks me in. He gently strokes the hair away from my forehead and leans in to kiss me right on the lips. I look up at him in a hazy fog, I realize that despite, fifteen years of marriage and two kids, our romance isn’t dead.
Normally, when one of us throws up it’s usually due to the stomach flu. We stand in the doorway, throw water bottles at each other and otherwise treat the room like a quarantined danger zone. This is different, this is a man taking care of his intoxicated wife. This is a man who still loves me enough to kiss me…even after I’ve thrown up.
Sometimes…it’s in these crazy, quirky moments that I find romance alive and well. It’s in these weird memories that I know I’m loved.
