It’s Friday morning and my tastebuds are being entertained by a Dulce de leche coffee. The column I worked on for hours is now being tweaked – or rather, deleted. I just couldn’t get it to come together the way that felt right.
A column or chapter in my book has to have a feeling that arises from my heart and settles into my soul. My soul has the last word whenever I write.
Writing is complex, yet truly simple when it flows from my heart. That’s about as fancy an explanation that you will get from me.
This morning my thoughts are taking me to that snowy February day some nine years ago when I married Chuck Leonard.
*Caution: you are now entering the schmaltzy zone. You know, sweeter than honey on a honeybee’s lips in the heat of the summer.*
My heart still swoons whenever I hear Canon in D Major by Johann Pachelbel. It’s the music the organ played as I walked down the aisle at the Castleton United Methodist Church to hold the hand and heart of Chuck Leonard.
While the walk down the aisle of the church to the altar was just a few steps, it was a long journey that brought me there.
Photo provided
If you have read my book, When the Hart Speaks, you know I was single for 14 years. While I knew that God knew the desire of my heart was to someday be loved and cherished, I had learned to be content in my singleness. I waited patiently (well, most of the time) for the … “but God” to bring romance into a chapter of my story. God sure had a whopper-do of a chapter to write.
Chuck says I found him. I say he found me. I only know that either way, finders are keepers.
Our story is Dulce de leche sweet.
My journey has led me to realize that love isn’t all about flowers and fancy dinners and lots of kisses, but it is about kindness in the middle of mundane days. It is making the person we love feel valued.
Early one December morning, winter was proving it could be bitterly cold when my backside feels the warmth of the seat heater. Chuck had started my car and pulled it outside of the garage. He pushed the seat heater button. That simple act of kindness hugged my heart.
Chuck asks me if I want to watch a Hallmark movie. I smile, knowing there is a golf tournament on the Golf Channel. He goes back and forth with the remote between the tournament and the movie. I may miss the first kiss of the movie. He may miss Jordan Speith getting an eagle on the ninth hole. Kindness is what matters.
1 Corinthians 13:4 says love is patient and kind.
I think kindness is the next of kin to love. They cannot be separated. If you lose one, the other ceases to exist in a relationship.
Verse 5 tells us love does not demand its own way. It’s not irritable. It does not keep score.
Time out. We all get a bit grouchity (a Janetism) as life just sometimes wears the niceness right out of us. Don’t allow the outside world to invade your heart or your home.
Remembering why you fell in love with someone brings you back to the reality of seeing the other person through those eyes. We can then refrain from allowing our words to hurt the person we are supposed to love or do harm to our relationship.
A reminder to young couples … don’t wear rose-colored glasses around others of the opposite sex while you wear microscopic lenses around your spouse. You get my message?
Love is work. It’s not all lovey-dovey and ooey-gooey sweet. BUT … it can be absolutely wonderful to find someone to grow old with and who loves you well, in spite of your faults and not-so-lovable idiosyncrasies.
Oh, the challenges of young love.
Oh, the sweetness of love in the winter season of two vintage people.
I won’t apologize for the schmaltz as I feel it is needed in the world today.
By the way, Dulce de leche coffee is a very sweet coffee. You may recognize the words in this column to be the same flavor.
Janet Hart Leonard can be contacted at janethartleonard@gmail.com or followed on Facebook or Instagram (@janethartleonard). Visit janethartleonard.com.