Because I Love You

The word love elicits a lot of things from me

Warmth, understanding, a knowledge that love is boundless

Those feelings stem from my parents and their love for our family

It’s in the way that my father tells me to be careful every morning when I leave for school

Or in the way he checks the fluids in my car because he knows that I forget

It’s the way my mother is a steady force in my life, ready to help me make any decision

Or how she sets a perfect example of the woman I would love nothing more than to be

It’s the understanding they give both my brother and I time and again

It’s the way they treat their marriage as one of the best things that has ever happened to them

I look at my parents and how their marriage has extended the life of many marriages

And I think about all of their good qualities

They listen to each other, they rely on each other during hard times

They hardly ever argue and when they do, it’s extinguished quickly

They know each other's limits and when to step in and help each other

They respect and value each other

The most important quality is that they truly love each other

You see, they both grew up in homes where love wasn’t present

They tell my brother and I often that being around a loveless marriage was hard

They tell us it made them realize that wasn’t how they wanted to live their lives or raise us

And I am thankful that I was blessed with parents who cared enough to give us a loving home

Because their love has shaped me profoundly in ways that I could never imagine

In closing, the words “Because I love you.” inscribe the best possible feelings from me

And I know it’s going to continue to be that way