...to be loved...

I asked some of Andy's friends and family to send me some kind words for a "Thirty Things We Love About Andy" project. I gathered them all together tonight, copied and pasted them into a text document, made them look pretty, cut the edges and finally pasted them to bright construction paper. I'll hang them on the walls down our staircase so that the first thing he sees when he wakes up on his birthday is how much he is loved.

I, of course, get the privilege of reading all that was written, and it's been so wonderful to see the impact that Andy has had in the lives of others. It's true that he has a servant's heart, and he regularly sacrifices his own comfort to help a friend in need. But my favorite response was from my sister-in-law, Tammy.

Tammy has the rare gift of being able to speak the truth in love. She will tell it to you like it is, and she will expect you to tow the line, but her words will never feel condescending, or demeaning, or demanding, or unkind. You'll walk away knowing that she is right and that you are dearly loved. I know very few people that can genuinely do this. She is also incredibly insightful. (She also religiously reads my blog. I'm super thankful for her!)

Her first words were: I love the way that you show Sharon that you love her.

I regularly wonder if I would be the woman that I am today without Andy's love. It seems silly, and I am in no way saying "he completes me," but with him, I feel secure in my own skin. I'm okay with being my silly, gushing, lovey self. He welcomes it. He embraces it. He participates in it.

When I'm frustrated and I take it out on him, he doesn't retaliate, though he might laugh at me, which only makes me laugh as well. He teases, tickles, kisses, cuddles, admonishes, caresses. We are quick to say "I'm sorry" and seek forgiveness.

He regularly stares at me and says, as if surprised, "You're so pretty." Not only that he says it, but the way that he says it, as if my "beauty" caught him off guard, always moves me. I never feel un-pretty in his presence. Even in pajama bottoms, with no makeup, unbrushed teeth, I know he only has eyes for me. I know it. He would never allow me to know anything else.

I'm not sure that anyone else could or would ever love me the way he does, and I'm not sure that I would be the person I am today without his love.

How have you been changed by the love of someone else? How are you loving others into being their best selves?