Covered in Love

It's been hot this summer, but not as hot as most summers. Luckily, our share of triple digit days has been pretty low this year. Living on one income means we do our best not to turn on the air conditioner unless we have to. So our house gets pretty warm, especially just as the sun dips into the horizon. Thankfully, once the sun goes down, a cool breeze begins to move through the house. Because of the heat, the kids usually go to bed in onesies or t-shirts, and not much else.

We leave the window in our bedroom open at night. By morning, the house has generally cooled a good ten to fifteen degrees. Each night, one of us (usually daddy) gets up and checks on the kids, making sure to tuck a blanket around them so they stay warm.

My husband wakes up at a ridiculously early hour to go to work. He does this so that he can get off work early and spend more time with the family. Every morning he gets ready, then comes in to give me a kiss and say goodbye before leaving for the day. A few weeks ago, he started covering me with a blanket just before he left.

I don't know why.

I never asked him to do this, or even implied that I was chilly. Of course, one of my husband's favorite jokes is that I could sleep on the surface of the sun and would still ask for a blanket. I do tend to run cold... he knows me well.

I remember the first time he did it. Because the house is so hot at night, I only sleep with a sheet to start out with. And the morning he first put that blanket on, I was so grateful. I knew I was chilly, but I was too tired to search out a blanket and work to cover myself from head to toe, so I just hunkered down under the thin sheet, knowing I would be up soon anyway.

The second day he did it, I felt a warmth that went way beyond a simple blanket. It was as though he were covering me in love. Such a small gesture. Yet, one that communicated so much.

I know you get cold.

I know you're tired.

I am going to take a few extra moments to think beyond myself, to look at the needs of another, and to take care of my wife.

I love you.

I don't know when the weather will change, and we will no longer leave our window open at night. I don't know when I will replace the comforter back on our bed and no longer sleep with just a sheet. But I do know that my husband, who gives up his sleep so he can see his family longer at night, and works eight, ten, sometimes even twelve hours a day so I can stay at home with my children, has chosen to cover me with love each morning. And when the cooler weather comes, I will miss that.