Pages

Monday, January 3, 2011

WHEN A MAN LOVES A WOMAN

In the first few years of HOBL and I's marriage
I would sometimes complain that he wasn't romantic
enough. I used to come home to tell him
stories of women I worked with and the things
their husbands would do for them like
rose petals leading to a bathtub full of bubbles.
HOBL, in his thick (tic) cajun accent would say
"May Lil if dem people have to brag about what
dey do to oter people, well dey have problems
in dere marriage"
After many years I grew to believe like HOBL did.
Probably because the majority of those who bragged
about those "romantics" are divorced today.
I came to believe that true love was not in those
things but in the simple things HOBL did for me
like maintaining my car, cleaning my house,
cooking for me after a long days work,
that was love, well at least for us.
This story leads me to the picture above.
My daddy was not a "romantic"
I can't remember a time that he showed outside
affection for my mom except by bringing her
coffee in bed every morning.
So it was a shock, when going through Mumsie's
things stored in my attic, that I cam across
this old box that held that broach and the
letter above written by my daddy to Mumsie.
I shed tears right there in my attic as I read
my Daddy's words written with one of her
10 pregnancies. None of my siblings remembered ever
seeing it either and we were all so touched by it
that it became part of the decorations on
the 90th birthday cake table.
None of us could figure out which child he
was referring to and when we showed it
to Mumsie she smiled and remembered the broach
but also could not remember which one of us
caused him to show this sort of affection.
It's these little shows that are never spoken about
by the couple that really shows
a true, undying love.
I will say in HOBL words what he would say
if suddenly you come home to rose petals on the floor:
"Huh, well you better watch out because dat man
done did someting wrong"
Really though, all kidding aside,
it is the small things
that show
WHEN A MAN LOVES A WOMAN

3 comments:

  1. I like to sing some Percy Sledge to my wife .... And then bring it over the top with a little Barry White.... now that is romance.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Love,Love,Love this story!

    ReplyDelete