I was working a twelve hour shift at the hospital. My feet hurt, my eyes felt gritty, and I was just plain tired, but my mood felt energetic and light for a Sunday afternoon. Underlying everything was a thrill of excitement over the evening that awaited me, and it filled me with contented bliss and anticipation.
The funny thing was there really wasn’t anything monumental on my calendar. It was going to be just like every other Sunday night for the past five years, but it still created a giddiness within me and put a smile on my face at the thought of my night to come. I knew my husband was off work, and that was all I really needed to know.
I didn’t have an awesome date planned. We wouldn’t be dining out somewhere elaborate, or even leaving the house. As it stood the agenda held pizza and a movie all while snuggled up on the couch, and it sounded perfect. More than perfect; it sounded divine.
The fact was I didn’t need a steak, fine wine, or candle light. I didn’t require any packages or presents to make me smile. All I needed was him, my husband, and even though all the kids would be there too, the thought of hugging up to my honey was good enough for me. More than good.
It was the simple things for me. Just spending time together with the man who held my heart was enough to set my spirit soaring, and it didn’t matter whether we went on a Carribean cruise or sat on the sofa. I’d be fine as long as he was by my side.
I was that way about my relationship with him as a whole. I didn’t need a big fancy house; I just needed us building a home together founded on our love for our kids, each other, and Jesus. It didn’t have to be perfect. It just needed to be perfect for us. Turns out something as simple as time together made things pretty darn close to perfection.
We didn’t require a certain social status within the community. It didn’t matter what anyone else thought. Opinions from others didn’t affect our happiness, and neither of us felt like we needed to be the loudest or most noticed person in a room. Our group of friends didn’t make or break us, and if it was just our little family on a desert island we’d probably make out just fine in the end.
The balance in the bank account had no significant outcome on our feelings for one another, and promotions, accolades at work, and “titles” were inconsequential to our relationship harmony.
In fact, I guess we could be eating pintos out of the can while sitting in a cardboard box and we’d be ok. Or at least I like to think so.
The point is it doesn’t take something extravagantly special to make us happy. We just are. It’s the little things (like time doing nothing) that are actually huge things to us (because it’s time together). We enjoy one another, and something as simple as a night watching TV becomes a much awaited event.