Last night driving home from work the new Katie Perry song Unconditionally came on the radio. As I listened to the words I thought about the unconditional loves in my own life.
My husband loves me unconditionally. I know, deep down, no matter what I do, he will always be here. I’m a handful and have pulled many stunts over the years. I won’t say he was always pleased with my actions, but even mad or angry, he stayed and saw me through it.
Grief and loss pull a person out of a relationship for an inordinate amount of time. It takes almost four years for a person to get over an irretrievable loss and return to being able to hold up their end of a relationship. My husband held up both our ends when I spent those years not entirely present. He never thought of himself. He never faltered. He just stood quietly by and did whatever I needed him to do, never asking anything of me. He put up with silence, despondency, and endless nights just talking and talking about the same topics over and over, as long as I needed to. He didn’t know it, but he was walking me back to healing. Back to our life as we once knew it. Lesser men, with less than unconditional love, wouldn’t have lasted over these years.
This unconditional love of his makes me want to be a better person. He should have someone whose steady, stable, and makes good choices as his life partner. He makes me want to be that person. That is the crux of marriage: being able to accept a love that makes you better each day, and in turn, urges you to give back even better that you received.
And so, as another day goes by, today I press pause and give gratitude for my husband’s unconditional love, say thank you to Katie Perry for reminding me of what I have through her music, and…I have written.
Lucky man!