real.love

So, it's February 14th.

The day everyone hates/loves for all it's mushy sentimentality, cupids, hearts, chocolates, flowers. Ugh.

On this highly sappy occasion, please allow me a moment to share my love (again) for this guy.  I still think I'm the one who lucked out to snag a man like my Ben.

You know what always has attracted me to him?

His sincerity.

See, I have a thing about phonies, about 'slick' fellas, salesmen and schmoozers... they make my skin crawl.  I've always held people to a high-bar when it comes to integrity.

Ben is one of the few people on this earth that hasn't disappointed me in this regard.

What you see is what you get with him.

He's real.

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Now about rabbits.

Ben proposed to me with a darling story he wrote about two bunnies.  Someday I'll share it here at length.. it's a treasure.

Anyway... that next Christmas I bought him a random rabbit figurine (yes, it was weird - that's why it was funny).. coincidentally he bought me the children's book The Velveteen Rabbit (see we are meant to be!).  You need to read this simple book, about a dirty, discarded old toy rabbit that fears his owner (a young boy) will forsake him for new shiny toys.

But mostly, you need to read the book for this quote:

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“What is REAL?" asked the Velveteen Rabbit one day... "Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?"

"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When [someone] loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real."

"Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit.

"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt."

"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?"

"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't often happen to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept.

"Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand... once you are Real you can't become unreal again. It lasts for always.”  

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I'm still learning this whole real.love thing.

Learning what it means to truly surrender my heart.

Realising that strength isn't strong if it can't be weak.. can't be vulnerable.

All I know is, there's no one else I'd rather learn this love thing with.. than my Ben.

Thanks for loving me 'real' babe.

mush n' stuff,

Mel ;o)

**P.S... my husband writes a blog post about twice a year.. so when he does, it's pure gold!
Guess who wrote me a valentine today here!!**