What does true, deep, lifelong love really look like? Is the ideal mate one who lavishes you with flowers, surprises you with stunning jewelry and whisks you off on romantic getaways? Well, that all sounds nice, but perhaps the key to happily-ever-after is something much deeper, yet less extravagant—something sweet, simple and selfless.
“What True Love Looks Like”
Amy Betters-Midtvedt is a parenting blogger, half the team behind Hiding in the Closet with Coffee. She is also mom to five kids and wife to Todd, whom she recently called her “knight in shining armor.”
She recently posted a picture of her husband on Facebook, which has been shared more than 9,000 times to date. The photo shows Todd walking into a grocery store with a wallet in hand and a grin on his face.
“Listen up, young ones,” her post begins.
Listen up young ones.This is what your knight in shining armor looks like when you are in your 40's.Yes, that's my…
Posted by Hiding in the Closet with Coffee on Donnerstag, 26. Oktober 2017
In the post, Amy describes that this pictures emphasizes, for her, what true love looks like. After discovering she had forgotten her wallet—once she was already in the checkout line with a cart full of groceries—she reached out to her husband for help. Rather than get irritated or berate his wife for her forgetfulness, Todd left work to rush over and pay the bill—all with a smile on his face.
Betters-Midtvedt explains that a seemingly simple gesture like rescuing your spouse in the checkout line is what real love looks like at 40. She goes to detail other examples:
“Love also looks like me coming downstairs to a full pot of coffee every morning because coffee is love.
“Love looks like all the lunches being made already so I can enjoy that aforementioned cup of coffee.
“Love looks like someone washing the dishes while his wife catches up on This is Us while plopped on the couch not helping at all.
“Love looks like a super patient dad doing the 5 year old’s homework with him every morning so I can get to work on time.
“Love looks like running to the store before bed after your wife has forgotten to buy milk because you know the morning will be easier if we can serve up some cereal.”
“Watch How He Treats You When Instagram Isn’t Looking”
She offers these words of wisdom to young women who are still searching for the loves of their lives:
“In college this love looked like boyfriend Todd running to the store for a danish I was craving or watching me and my friends on the dance floor long after he wanted to leave the bar or him being known across campus by the flower backpack he was carrying which of course was mine.”
“Watch how he treats you when Instagram isn’t looking,” she advises younger women. “Choose the man who will carry your too heavy flowered backpack in public because he will also be the man who bails you out at Aldi’s when your (sic) 40-? with a smile and a hug.”
Yep, it sounds like that is the kind of love worth waiting for.
Kudos To The Dads Who Share Parenting Duties
This isn’t the first time Betters-Midtvedt has paid tribute to her husband on Facebook. A couple years ago, she shared a picture of the happy couple with the caption:
“Love is letting your wife hang in the hot tub with a cocktail while you catch a five year old at the bottom of a pool slide for the millionth time. Plus he’s cute. (And there was no one to capture the moment because I was alone!)”
Love is letting your wife hang in the hot tub with a cocktail while you catch a five year old at the bottom of a pool…
Posted by Hiding in the Closet with Coffee on Donnerstag, 3. März 2016
Betters-Midtvedt also captures sweet family moments, like this one she posted on Oct. 14.
“As we walked into the house a few nights ago my smallest boy suddenly laid down on the sidewalk as we were walking into the house,” she wrote. “Look up mom! He said. I can see the stars. And with that…he echoed what has been on my heart for weeks. Why don’t we just look up? We are a people that walk around looking down. I see it everywhere and worst of all I see it in myself.”
She went on to write that we all would be well-served to put down our phones and look around us more often. That we are all so focused on “trying to connect in a way” that makes us, in turn, “disconnect in another.”
Wise words. Read her full post below.
As we walked into the house a few nights ago my smallest boy suddenly laid down on the sidewalk as we were walking into…
Posted by Hiding in the Closet with Coffee on Samstag, 14. Oktober 2017
