‘I Knew It Was Love When …’
Some men say it with roses, others with nursing bras. Here’s how you knew it was love.
Danielle: “I was four months pregnant with our first child. We went for an easy three-mile hike in the mountains in Utah. At the top, I twisted my knee. Jason decided to carry me down. He only outweighed me by 15 pounds at that point, plus I was acting like a 2-year-old. I would scream about the bouncing and demand to be put down. Five minutes later I would ask him to carry me again. It took us three hours to go one and a half miles, downhill. Never once did he complain. He was as tender as a mother with a baby. He insisted that I drink the water we were carrying. He put me in a warm bath when we got home and then took me out to dinner. He never spoke about that day to anyone else. He has never even teased me about my behavior. It was that horrible afternoon that made me realize with absolute certainty that he loved me and that he would be a wonderful father. Five years and two kids later, I am still being proved right every day.”
Lindsay: “We went to see ‘Braveheart.’ During the love story portion of the film, Scott leaned over to me and said, ‘I would have liked to have lived back then.’ Thinking of all the period lacked in material comforts, I asked why. He said, ‘Because there is honor in fighting for what you love.’ As we walked out of the theater, he put his arm around me and I felt a wave come over me. People talk about love hitting them, but I had never believed it. But this was a magical, electrical feeling that started somewhere in my middle and radiated out through every nerve ending. I could literally feel it flowing to my fingertips. I never knew love could be so physical. He reconfirmed his love last night by cutting my mother’s failing muffler off her car with a hacksaw.”
Joyce: “I wore his boxer shorts as a bathing suit bottom with a tank top of mine, sat at the pool with him, and talked with such ease about everything under the sun, although there were beautiful, bikini-clad women in the surrounding area. It was as if he and I were the only two people on earth.”
Amy: “I had a case of the blues and felt down all day. When my boyfriend, Shelby, asked what was wrong, I couldn’t tell him because I didn’t know. Most people would have dropped the subject. Instead, he went into his proverbial bag of tricks. He recited all the one-liners that usually make me erupt into fits of laughter. No such luck. Then he did the dance that always makes me laugh. Again, no luck. I could read the frustration on his face. It was at this point that he told me something wonderful, something that made me realize how much he genuinely cared for me. He said, ‘I feel like I should be able to make you smile. Even when it’s not my fault, I feel I should be able to do something.”’
Jennifer: “He stood in the shower with me for 45 minutes during my labor. He was fully clothed and spent the rest of my labor in wet clothes. And never once complained. He went to Sears and bought me nursing bras. Our baby was two and half months early and I hadn’t bought any. And now, he brushes my hair in the middle of the night when I can’t sleep because he knows it relaxes me.”
Rachel: “He bought himself a diamond ring with money he got from selling the coin collection he inherited from his father. One day he took the diamonds from the ring, which he always wore, and had them made into a necklace for me. He told me he would have more enjoyment seeing the diamonds around my neck than on his finger.”
I knew it was love … I knew it was over … Fill in the blanks and send them to Cheryl Lavin, Tales from the Front, Chicago Tribune, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, Ill. 60611. Please include day and evening phone numbers. Letters may be used in whole or in part for any purpose and become the property of the column.