Following a bank stop, a bill payment and an hour-long ballet class, later we stopped by my husband’s restaurant to say hello before heading back home to make supper. I smiled as he fussed over his girls in their leotards and frills, and I stood kinda haggard off to the side marveling at the beauty of the ones we had created together. He held one by the hand, and another on his hip and he helped me load our girls back into the van. A quick kiss and we parted ways to finish another day. With matted hair, animal-cracker stained leggings and those horrendous boots (oh who am I kidding; they’re house shoes), I headed confidently home.
Half an hour later my happy, house-shoe clad feet stood comfortably in front of the stove stirring dinner for my family when suddenly I heard the chime of an incoming text on my phone. It was from my husband who would be home shortly, but I suppose he didn’t think this pressing news could wait.
I just want you to know you are still the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen 😘
And just like that, he turned my whole day around. It wasn’t that I felt incredibly unattractive, or even that I required a compliment to feel better about myself. Yet still. Something about his perfectly timed compliment, in the midst of a crazy day, it had acted like a salve to my soul. Sometimes, make that most times, it’s the little things that mean the most. A morning kiss that lingers longer than normal, a thoughtful note left by the coffee maker, my favorite candy brought home for dessert, or a text reminding me he stills thinks I got it, house shoes or not.
The crow’s feet didn’t matter, the shabby attire was of no consequence. The dirty hair wasn’t noted, and I doubt he even saw the shoes. Somehow my man looked past the years and how they’d changed me. He moved beyond the window dressing I barely maintained at this stage of my life. He saw right past it to the best parts of me, and those were the ones highlighted in his eyes. He thought I was the most beautiful woman in the world, and actually, I couldn’t imagine a sexier man than he was in my mind. And I suppose that’s exactly how it should be.