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