Lunch Box Notes, And Other Signs of Love

  I'm sure you are all well aware that Valentine's Day is around the corner. You can't walk into a store these days without being accosted with every shade of red.  There is something about Valentine's day that I have always adored, but it has little to do with the chocolates, cards, and flowers...although a girl never minds getting any of those! ;)
  Mostly, I appreciate the reminder to express my love.  When Ryan and I were first married it was so fresh and exciting that hardly a day would go by without some little note, or flirtatious comment, and other gushy verbal explosion of love.  But now that 12 years have passed, and 5 children have arrived, weeks can go by without the same kind of thoughtfulness and care in our expressions.  Don't get me wrong, the love is still there, and has grown more stable and mature, but it often exists quietly outside of the daily, "I love you".
  Every morning I make Ryan's lunch.... I know, how very June Cleaver of me...But recently, I was trying to recall the last time I sent him a lunch box note.  You know, a little message of appreciation that every weekday he goes off to spend 8 hours with MIDDLE SCHOOLERS in order to pay our bills. (....if THAT isn't an act of love I don't know what is ;) )  Or perhaps a little inside joke to make him smile to himself  in front of his co-workers at lunch-break. 
  I think we are fooling ourselves that we know everything about our spouses, even if we have been married awhile.  But, it is easy for anyone to get overwhelmed with care for little people in the home, and have little energy left to study the person we chose to spend our life with.  When I mean study, I'm referring to finding out what little things make your spouse happy, or what it is they love about that movie they could watch a thousand times without tiring of it, or a favorite old rock band from high school days, or some secret life dream.  What makes him FEEL loved?  He may KNOW I love him, but what can I do to make him FEEL that love afresh?
  So here's to hoping that this Valentine's I will make these extra efforts to keep the romance going strong...and keep making the effort long after the stores have taken down all the red.