Saturday, March 16, 2013

Broken Pieces Salvaged

Yesterday, my husband, Steve, brought me my recently mended New York City spoon-rest.  I used to take such gestures for granted.  Until I realized his "Love Language" is acts of service.  That's how he shows love.
I got the spoon rest on my first trip to NYC in November 2010 when I went with my mom and two sisters for my mother's 75th birthday.  It was a WONDERFUL trip.
Steve had given me my first iPhone at the time as an early birthday present so I would have an easier time getting around the island (though my sister insisted on taking out her life-size accordion map to navigate our way!!).  A few months later I was cleaning the stove top upon which the spoon rest lay.  In that one swift motion I had inadvertently launched that ceramic reminder into cosmic orbit, destined for certain doom.  It broke.  There lay my homage to NYC yellow cab drivers and our harrowing experiences there in, in 4 pieces.  I was greatly disappointed.  I lay the pieces on the counter thinking I would dispose of them properly in cardboard (my oldest still bearing a puncture scar in his thigh from a less-than-well-disposed glass piece that poked through a garbage bag and into his leg years ago), only to return later and it was gone.  I assumed my husband had chucked it away (not in cardboard and therefore would be on the lookout for stabbing garbage bags!).  The next day, I came in to the kitchen and there on my counter lay the recently assembled spoon rest, glued together by my loving husband.  He knew how much I loved that spoon-rest.  Or, at least the wonderful, crazy memories it brought me.  Then I broke it again.  And he fixed it again.  Then the glue gave out.  He fixed it again.  The glue gave out again.  And this time he brought it to me and said "This time I epoxy'd it!"
My husband is not perfect.  And neither am I.  But, when it comes down to brass tax, through all of our broken times, I take great comfort in knowing he is always willing to fix things when he knows it means a lot to me.  I know it's a silly little thing but, as I spied the once-again reassembled spoon rest beside my desk, I felt an overwhelming love for that man, my husband.  He shows his love in acts of service.  When I think of all the things he has done for me over the years I see how much he truly loves me.  We may not always get the love that we prefer, but when we recognize that someone is showing love in the best way they know how, it means the world.

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