Write about the first thing you see when you open your eyes in the morning. Is it something in your room? Is it a photograph? A cat? A person? The world outside of your window?
It's a message from my little one. A few months ago, on my birthday, she left a note for me, right on the tall dresser by my bedside. "Happy Birthday!" it says. "Check the microwave. There is a surprise (a good one!). Love, Anna and Justin." So when I opened my eyes that day, it was the very first thing I saw. It warmed my heart in an instant. It made me smile. A surprise! And not just any surprise - a good one! Who wouldn't want to wake up to a good surprise waiting for them? I knew I wanted. My day was destined to be happy before I completely woke up. I did not take the note off - it still hangs there, the bright yellow note on my bright red dresser. As bright and sunny as the walls of my bedroom. As bright and sunny as a smile of my daughter. It reminds me of that morning, when she asked Justin to wake her up earlier than usual, so she had enough time to get ready for school and make pancakes for me. So when she left for school, and Justin left for work, and I was, as usually, still sleeping, there was a little proof of their love waiting for me to wake up to. Who would take such a proof off? I didn't.
It reminds me now of one morning in our small apartment in a far away city where we lived before, when I woke up and saw a printed in colorful inks note on the wall in front of me: "I love you... I love you... I love you..." I smiled. I went to the bathroom. "I love you... I love you... I love you...", the mirror said. I smiled. I went to the living room. "I love you... I love you... I love you...", whispered every wall, every piece of furniture, from every corner of our small apartment. "I love you... I love you... I love you..." Anywhere and everywhere I looked, I saw the proof of his love to me, the proof that everything is well with the world, because more than anything, before anything else, don't we all want to be loved, to know for sure, that we are loved, always, at any and every corner of our world, at any and every point of our day, of our life, we are loved, fully and completely, colorfully, happily loved? I did not take those colorful notes off our little apartment walls for many months, maybe a year, maybe longer. Who knows when I decide to take off the "good surprise" note from my dresser. I love to wake up and know that there is a surprise waiting for me. And not just a surprise. A good one!
That is a lovely first thing in the morning site, and how clever to stage them either after you were in bed, or before you got up. As you said, we all need to know we feel loved, and sometimes, even when we know it in our hearts, we need the visual representation as well.
ReplyDeleteYou said it well! Yes, even when we know it, reminders are always welcome. :)
DeleteWhat a sweet story and a linking of colour and love! It reminds me of how my Mum put a sticker that said "I Think I Love You" on the mirror of the bathroom she shared with my Dad. It was an in joke because apparently those were the words he used when he first told her he loved her. xoxo
ReplyDeleteI love inside jokes like that!
DeleteA good surprise is a wonderful thing indeed. A note from a loved one can mean so much to us. For my birthday in April, my husband wrote me this sweet message on a card...it meant more to me than any present could have had.
ReplyDeleteTo feel loved can be very empowering and to feel love, to feel we are a capable of love...to that we should always look forward. When love I have wasn't returned on one occasion, I thought to myself how it is good that I love so deeply and that I shouldn't worry about that particular person repaying it...If we love with a full heart, sooner or later somebody comes who recognizes that.
Yes, love is wonderful both ways, and especially wonderful when both ways simultaneously! :)
DeleteI've posted my first day on Instagram @naturalmedley. I'll collect a few together and make a blog post. Love your good surprise note and the note it engendered. No wonder you keep it around...I would too! Xo Jazzy Jack
ReplyDeleteI'm thrilled that you are playing with us!
Deletethe lovely ones! i too keep the tender notes R. writes to me - little traces of love!
ReplyDeletexxxxx
Well said - traces of love...
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