When Love Literally Ends Up In The Granger

There is this adorable Pinterest idea that I brought to life six years ago and it hangs near the front door of our home. It’s a framed graphic that says “I love you because _______” and we write all the reasons we love each other on the glass in dry erase marker. Gag-worthy adorable, yes, I know. When I made it, we were two years into marriage and the Honeymoon Phase was still going strong. We were in luuuuuuv and never thought it would end. I mean what could possibly go wrong? Ha.

Fast forward to this past weekend. I made Hubbz his coffee and breakfast then ran out super early on Sunday morning to get some errands done before the world woke up. By the time I got home, Hubbz had already headed out for a day at the Auto Show (which I happen to think is more boring than the most boring thing you can think of in the history of the entire planet. Once when we were dating he asked me to go and since I was all gooey-eyed in love I was all like “of course, Boo!” …I died of boredom a little that day and vowed I would never make myself susceptible to that kind of horrid thing again in my whole life… He has made it into a guy thing and now attends with the boys, and I am definitely ok with that. I digress.)  I came home to an empty house and I had the day to myself. Studying, weekly meal prep, laundry and football. Sign me up and sign me up TWICE!

I walk in the house with 2 armloads full of bags (because God forbid I make more than one trip from the car to the house… I like to play the game of “how much can I carry before I piss myself off for carrying too much” Anywho!) I look up and see something that literally made me “AWWW!” out loud. Hubbz left me a love note on the board. I put the bags down and grabbed my phone because, Insta, DUH! Mid-Instagram highlight reel brag I caught myself. My post wasn’t about “Aww look how much he loves me” My sentiment was SO much bigger than that. I was in awe of God’s handi-work in our life. The miracle of a marriage that transformed before our very eyes. I was posting this pic because WOAH, we have come so far. I was posting it because WOAH, our backstory, tho! I deleted the Insta post I was writing, put my bags and goodies away and grabbed my computer to write something so much grander than an Insta post.

The thing about our cute little lovey-dovey board is that it’s not our first one. It’s actually our second. Why would we possibly need two you might be asking… Well, the first one got forcefully chucked directly into the brown Granger dumpster. Yep. Taken off the wall, walked out to the garage and thrown into the trash. I’m not saying which one of us did it but I am saying it’s a true story. That’s not something you write a Facebook post about now is it!

I tongue in cheek joke about it now because I know how far we have come and how God has literally changed the hearts of both Hubbz and myself. There was a time that we were both huge, gigantic jerkfaces to each other and wanted to hurt the other as much as we were hurting. Instead of running towards each other we ran in opposite directions.

And then.

Because the and then always comes.

God took a marriage that we had incinerated and breathed life into the ashes.

The first love board I made had a white pristine frame. It was the cutest and perfectly matched the trim in the house… Pinterst got wild all up in the hizzy on that one! This one has a faux-silver frame that’s a little beat up if you look close. The worn look is a reminder of how far we have come. The scars that have healed from the wounds that we caused. The color silver is a constant reminder that after a while if you don’t take care of silver, it tarnishes… After a while if you don’t take care of a spouse their shine gets dull. After a while if you don’t take care of a marriage, it falls apart. There was a day a few years back Hubbz and I promised to never again dull the other person’s shine and to always, before anyone and anything, take care of this marriage so it never falls apart again.

*Dear Grammar Nazi’s, Hubbz’s first language was Italian. I find his interchangeable use of your and you’re ridiculously freaking adorable… Deal with it.

I love you because you always have the best cologne on.

I love you because your #beardgame is strong.

I love you because you are SO handsome.

I love you because you are #BestDressed.

I love you because you are #BeastMode in the gym (and that’s hot).

I love you because you have a valiant heart.

I love you because you make me laugh ’till I pee a little.

I love you because of the way you touch me.

I love you because you never gave up.

I love you because you have a servant’s heart.

I love you because you are the ultimate prayer warrior.

I love you because you have an unshakable heart the Lord.

I love you because you are… wait for it… My Champion.