Pro-XL

I know I’m going to screw up… it’s just a matter of time! Let’s face it, I’m just your average Joe with lots of faults. You know, the typical guy who forgets to take out the trash, drags sand into the house every 5 minutes, and leaves dirty sponges on the counter. I don’t mean to screw up, but I’m human and all of us humans (sorry ladies) make mistakes and occasionally irritate each other sometimes. So it dawned on me that with the Coronavirus forcing a lot of us to stay home, my chances of irritating my spouse have exponentially increased. We are now starting our 7^th week of being home together 24/7, and even though we love each other very much… that much togetherness can be tough at times.

Realizing that I am not perfect and that I’m never going to be perfect, means I’m going to keep making mistakes no matter how hard I try. Bummer! But there is good news because there is something we can do about it, something that we can all do to help the situation. I’m going to call it Pro-XL, a “Proactive Expression of Love”. I got the idea from my wife!

This might sound a little gross, but bear with me. My wife uses the master bedroom bathroom, and I use the guest bathroom. (That way I stay out of her hair!) Recently we started running low on toilet paper, so I switched to Kleenex so she wouldn’t run out. Yesterday morning, I noticed my wife had refilled the toilet paper roll in my bathroom. A small gesture maybe, but I know how important toilet paper is to her, so I know it was a big sacrifice on her part. Maybe she still loves me in spite of my faults!

Later that day, our bad neighbor (remember my last Monday message) was making it difficult for us to sit on our own patio. So my wife asked me if we could take our beach chairs and go sit by the water. So while she was changing clothes, I got a beach towel and two chairs and set them up on the sand. Then I snuck out to our garden and picked the prettiest rose I could find and placed it in her chair as a surprise. A small gesture to some maybe, but as far as I am concerned it was a fun way to proactively express my love and make some brownie points, because let’s face it, I know I’m going to need them.

And that got me thinking… for many years I was in the lighting maintenance business and discovered that if I took a proactive approach to maintenance, meaning fixing things before they broke, my customers really appreciated it. So why can’t that work the same way in a marriage!

His!

Hers!

The love in your heart wasn’t put there to stay. Love isn’t love until you give it away.

~ Anonymous