Ordinary Love

What I've come to find out is ordinary love is anything but ordinary. Let me explain, the moments when I have felt the most loved in my life are the moments that to the naked eye might seem ordinary. I'm a firm believer in the saying, "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" and I wanted to prove that statement to be true. But not in the way you might think. I had this theory. What if the love you see in the movies doesn't compare to the depth of love you feel from your significant other when you are living every day life? What if we need to change the way we look at love and really see it for what it is, instead of the make believe rainbows and butterflies?  What if we encouraged the next generation to see that ordinary love has so much more beauty and brings so much more fulfillment and satisfaction than a fancy dinner date ever could?

What if love is at its truest form, in moment you look over at your special someone in the passenger seat, singing to the newest hit on the radio and you can't help but think how much life is better with them in it? What if love is the underlining theme in your weekly trips to get donuts and coffee together? The dates where some weeks you only exchange a few words, but that consistent act of commitment to that time together speaks volumes.

So I challenged 5 couples, to sit down and write down one thing they do together that make up their "ordinary love". And this is what happened...

Zack and Milena- Married 5 years

"Love is... driving Zack's jeep to the desert after work and walking our dog, Mayce, together. We have had some of the most meaningful conversations together during our walks. Sometimes these conversations have helped us deal with the bad days at work or helped us express unspoken dreams in our hearts or just talk about our day. It also helps to have that time together to reconnect when we are going through a hard time in our marriage. It is so simple, but it's something I look forward to every week.-Milena

 

 

Paul and Val- Married 38 years

"Love is... many things. Doing things you like to do together each doing their own thing him reading the news paper and I checking out my messages. The two most difficult things to get straight in life are our understanding of God and our understanding of love. If we want to love the right way we have to deal with God the right way. God and love can't be separated."- Val

Nikki and Jeff- together 1 year

"Love is...Staying up a little later every Sunday night to do "date night" with Jeff. He currently lives 8,688 miles away. With him living in Thailand and me living out of a (backpack), date nights via FaceTime and destination meet ups somewhere in the world is how we get to express this out of this world, UNconventional, not-so-traditional kind of love."- Nikki

George and Haley- married 2 years
"Love is... taking our two and four legged babies to the park. We love taking them for a walk then over to the playground so our son, Kade, can play. No matter what our schedule is for the day we always make an effort for this family time. And with baby #2 arriving in August he or she will get to come along as well!"- Haley

Kim and Cassie- Together 5 months

"Love is when your favorite part of the day is being together. Kim comes over every day after work. We haven't seen each other all day and we get to catch up, cuddle on the couch, talk about life and where we see our future going. Caylee is an added joy to being together. - Cassie

So what if we changed the way we looked at love? What if we looked at the beauty in our every day life with our significant other the way we see the love in the movies. To the "ordinary" eye the photos above look like ordinary activities taken place among a couple. But to the beholder of that love, it is the beauty what makes up their love. My purpose was not only to show how love can be found in ordinary moments, but to challenge couples to take the time to love "your person" daily through ordinary things. In the end you will find that when it is done in love, it makes ordinary things not so ordinary.

Happy Valentines Day loves!

xoxo

Bethany