For Jeremy.
Love is meeting him at age 21 and knowing it’s game over
It’s knowing nothing about hockey but going to watch him play every week
It’s cooking dinner for him
It’s him carrying me to bed
It’s bringing him coffee in bed in the mornings
It’s me not caring what my wedding dress looked like, just knowing that I wanted him to be mine
Love is having a beautiful baby girl
It’s holding that baby girl so carefully, taking baby steps, tears streaming down his face, to show her to our waiting family
It’s taking shifts bouncing a swaddled colicky baby
It’s leaky boobs, messy hair, baby puke, exhausting days and sleepless nights
It’s him taking care of and protecting his girls
Love is finding Jesus and being baptized together
Love is him getting laid off and having to collect unemployment while we have a daughter and a mortgage to take care of and not having money and playing games together and living a simple life and enjoying it anyway
Love is starting a business with $500 in the bank
Love is when I started getting sick and the doctors couldn’t figure out a diagnosis
It’s learning how to cook for me to eat gluten free, corn free and dairy free
It’s helping me get healthy again
It’s being my biggest fan during races
It’s him hating to run but running races with me anyway
Love is me quitting a job to work for his successful business. Our business.
It’s being a team in life
Love is being with me when they gave us the breast cancer diagnosis
Love is him documenting with beautiful photos what my body looked like before
Love is him staying with me until they took me back to surgery
Love is being able to look at him and not feel afraid when they told us it got into my lymph nodes
Love is him spending the night at the hospital with me after the double mastectomy
Love is making sure I was comfortable at home
Love is him giving me a shower, being careful of the drains and tubes that stuck out of my mangled body
Love is letting me cry and lose my shit the first time I saw the place where my breasts use to be
Love is shaving my head for me and telling me I was going to rock it
Love is shaving his head too
Love is going to my first chemo appointment with me
Love is crying with me the day all the little hairs on my head fell out
Love is letting me fall asleep on him early in the evenings
Love is him making me feel beautiful bald, sick from chemo, with no breasts, eyelashes, or eyebrows
Love is fighting for our marriage
Love is supporting me through tough decisions about medicine and wellness
Love is celebrating that I can run and lift and be healthy
Love is having honest conversations that aren’t always fun
Love is letting me bounce ideas and dreams and random thoughts around
Love is turning those ideas, dreams and thoughts into reality
Love is him helping me find my way back to me
Love is making our dreams come true
Love is realizing we can do anything together
Love is me spending the rest of my life making him feel as totally known and loved as he has loved me
Philippians 2:2 Make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.
Wow!! Now that is true love. Thru thick & thin. May you continue to seek God’s strength to keep you & family going. You are such an inspiration Tahnee. Hugs!!
Tahnee that was so AMAZING!!!! So thoughtful and very well written and I would save this and read it on your 50th anniversary together. We thank God everyday that you both met, it was meant to be……the absolute LOVE that you both share is precious……you both have gone through hard trials, had to climb many mountains, a lot of stress and horrible pain but you stuck together. I will continue praying that our Lord keeps you both in that strong bond and your Love just grows stronger every day. You are such a beautiful couple. We love you both with all our hearts. Be well, take care of each other , be kind , and always love each other.
Yep, that is undeniable love. Can’t wait for your book!
Dear Tahnee you are so very loved. Reading through the highs and lows I could feel your heart completely. I understand the loss you felt and may still feel at times. Communication is a must so glad there is true love to weather the storms. Your writing is a visual feeling.