He always pushes the grocery cart.
When we get back to the truck, he unlocks the doors right away so I can get in and warm up, while he unloads the groceries, rain or shine. That’s our little grocery routine. It’s taken me years to truly appreciate love like this.
Courtesy of Heather Delaney
For a long time, I believed love was supposed to look like it does in movies and magazines, flowers, chocolates, candlelit dinners, surprise trips. I waited for those moments, and I was disappointed again and again. I was too busy looking for the kind of love I was told to expect, instead of noticing the love that was already there.
Courtesy of Heather Delaney
When I finally saw it, everything changed. He rarely brings flowers, but he calls me every day after work to see if I need anything. He doesn’t think of buying chocolates, but if he finds a plant-based treat he knows I’ll like, he buys it and proudly surprises me.
Courtesy of Heather Delaney
He’s no chef, he can only boil eggs and butter bread—but every Sunday morning he makes coffee, pours my favorite mug, and brings it to me while I’m curled up on the couch. If my mug’s dirty, he washes it first.
He’s not a trip planner, but he’s sat through Broadway musicals with me, toured Ernest Hemingway’s home, walked through countless museums and libraries, never once complaining.
And it’s more than that.
He’s gotten up in the night with a crying baby. If his meal at a restaurant is better than mine, he swaps without hesitation. He watches romantic comedies with me when I know he’d rather be watching action movies. He knows exactly which products I use and will run to the store for them without question. And, of course, he always pushes the grocery cart.
The more I think about it, the flowers, chocolates, dinners, and trips are all temporary. Flowers wilt, chocolates are eaten, dinners end, trips are over. But the small moments you can count on again and again—that’s where real love lives.
Courtesy of Heather Delaney
The steady love. The kind of love that feels like your warmest blanket on a crisp fall day. That’s the love I want for life. So don’t waste time waiting for flowers or chocolates. Look for the one who will push your grocery cart. Because that’s where you’ll find the always kind of love.
