Unconditional

I’ve been having so many ups and downs recently, I can't remember if my head is up or my ass is down or if my boobs should point east and west or straight out, knowwhatimeanverne?? It's getting harder and harder to see the bright side.  To recognize the good in the day when so much “bad” seems to be on my shoulders.  I’ve been looking for a reminder of the love all around me and came upon this, which I’m sure is familiar to some:
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast…


Wait.

What?

I guess I have more than that.  I have recently experienced expressions of love, the greatest of all:  The Unconditional kind. 

Here goes.

Love is…
Your 4 year old, upon finding you sobbing on the cold bathroom floor, rubbing your back and asking if you need a blanket.  Once he gets that blanket, he lays next to you, “so that you don’t get cold, Momma” and quietly sings his favorite lullaby...

Love is…
Your husband looking at you across the dinner table, as noodles fly and arguments are had about who’s juice glass is more full.  He knows you’re on auto-pilot, but still, he reaches for your hand…knowing any words spoken at that very moment would be lost in the chaos, but his warm hand is there and words aren’t needed …

Love is…
 Your mother sending you a handmade quilted tree skirt and Christmas stockings, even though her joints are gnarled and her body aches…

Love is…
Going to your baby’s crib, late at night after the deadline has been met and the laundry is folded.  Picking him up and smelling that breath and touching those warm cheeks and feeling him turn into you, into that nook in your neck that is his and only his. And he lets you rock with him. For as many minutes or hours you need… 

Love is…
Friends both near and far, somehow knowing just when you need a laugh or an ear or a hug or a teeny tiny two word text:  “I’m here.”

So yah, I guess I do know a thing or two about love…Why do the reminders seem so hard to find when they are so plain as day THERE for you?