I had this post written and posted about a situation that had recently happened that was not a happy exchange that centered around “I told you so.” My original post was a little bit of a rant, not like my normal writings. Once I posted it, I started feeling guilty for writing something with such a negative tone. That’s just not me. But, WOW, how therapeutic. So, I’ve taken it down and restarted. Here’s goes….
“Have I told you how much I love you lately?”
This is something my kids and I say to each other all the time. It started when my son was a baby. I taught him to say I love you very early on. So it was one of his first favorite things to say…..then follow it up with a big smooch on the cheek. Then this evolved into me saying, quite sarcastically at first, “Have I told you how much I love you lately?” At first, it was said kind of sarcastically because Jax and I would say “I love you” to each other all the time. It was a fun game that turned into a regular gesture of love in our household with all of the kids and between JB and I. Was something so natural to us.
We have felt it a more important aspect of life over the past few months to make sure that everyone who plays a large role in our lives knows how much we love them. I hear my daughters say “I love you” to their friends before hanging up or saying goodbye after being with them. I say it to my people as well. Jax, my son, also gives more me hugs and says “I love you” more too, and he is sixteen years old.
When I look around my world and see all the good God has brought to me, I can hear him saying to me, “I love you.” I hear it when it storms during the night. I see it when the blue skies are clear the next morning. I see it in every aspect of my beautiful blessings, my children. I saw His love when he joined us in marriage.
On the last day that JB was with us, I could hear God saying, “Have I told you that I love you lately. I love you so much!” loud and very clear. I could hear these beautiful words coming to my ears in THX surround sound quality. You know the sound……like at the beginning of a movie in the movie theater when they test the speakers with the THX intro. It was just like that. This message was coming to me through the doctors and nurses using their skilled hands and minds to help my love any way they could. It was coming from the friends and family in the waiting room holding our hands. It was being said to me by JB himself as he laid there hooked up to everything I could imagine. He was saying to me, “It’s okay, I’ve got this. You’ve got this. I love you, Toni.” I heard it. And it stuck with me.
Have you told your people how much you love them lately? You should do that right now.
