Saturday, November 26, 2011

Preferences.

Yes to vinegar dipped bread.
No to mashed potatoes.
Yes to lemon slices.
No to In-N-Out Burger (?!).
Yes to pickled okra.
No to green beans.
Yes to garlic stuffed green olives.
No to spinach and cheese casserole.
Yes to cran-raspberry, celery, and walnut salad.
No to sweet potato fries.
Yes to dirt.
No to apple pie.

Apparently, Buster is developing an interesting palate.  He sure does keep me on my toes.

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

A Gift.

I was given a lovely gift this past weekend.  Time.

A number of years ago I was introduced to the book, The 5 Love Languages.  The concept of the book is essentially that we all have a "mother tongue" through which we most naturally express or receive love - a "love language".  The book not only encourages us to identify our own love language, but, perhaps more importantly to identify and learn the languages of the people in our lives who we love.  The languages are generally described as Gift Giving, Acts of Service, Physical Touch, Words of Encouragement, and Quality Time. 

I've decided that one of my love languages is probably Quality Time.  When someone spends time with me, I feel loved.  If I love someone, its most natural for me to express that to them by just "being" with them.  I think I read another book at some point that likens this love language to the behavior of a faithful Golden Retriever puppy.  It kind of makes sense.  

I think one of my husband's love languages is probably Acts of Service.  One of the ways that he naturally expresses love is by serving or doing something for those that he loves.  By way of example, he does the dishes every night.  Every night.  He also starts my car on cold mornings, shuffles the car seat back and forth between our vehicles, takes out the trash, and vacuums.  I actually could go on and on.  Suffice it to say, as he is doing all those things, I think he is speaking his love language, and I feel very loved.  

This weekend, though, my husband spoke his love language in a big dog way.  And, at the same time, gave me the chance to soak of lots of my love language.  He stayed at home with Buster for two nights.  TWO NIGHTS.  And, I got to go down the mountain to Denver to spend the weekend with three of my girlfriends.  We hung out, talked, laughed, poked around a bookstore, cried, made cake balls*, reminded one another of truth and grace, and encouraged each other.  It was a Quality Time heyday!

I'm feeling very loved.  And, that's a pretty amazing gift.

*Cake balls, if you've never come across them, are essentially balls of wadded up cake that have been squished with frosting and dipped in chocolate.  It's an acquired taste.