chap stick makes for a good marriage

I think I wrote some time ago about loving your wife more now than you did the day you got married. Maybe I have not. Anyhow, that is the nature of this post. My dad used to tell me that all the time. I never really understood what he meant until I got married, and have now been married for two years. And even now I’m afraid to write that because experience tells me again in 10, 20 and 50 years I’ll think about this post and think to myself that I really didn’t even know what love was at that point in our marriage. For now I’ll just assume that is both true and false and both for good reason.

Well here is my little anecdote that corroborates the above comments. Lindsay I made our weekly trip to the HEB this last weekend. Somehow we ended up in the cosmetic isle and in very Josh fashion I looked at the Burt’s Bees chap stick and commented that I would purchase one if we were not poor. Here I add a couple of qualifiers. First, were not really poor. In fact most days I come home to my new home feeling immensely blessed to have all that we do. The term poor rather, refers to the fact that we are due with our first child in about 7 months and thus need to pinch the occasional penny. Second qualifier. As an undergraduate marketing major and thus someone who should know better, I am a complete sucker for brand imaging. The only reason, if I’m honest, that I wanted the chap stick is because of the following mental process.

“I’m rugged or at least trying to make people think I am. Rugged people are outdoorsy. Bee’s wax is a natural occurring substance. Rugged people are into natural. I better buy this chap stick since I like to be rugged.”

This is the same reason I recently purchased the Old Spice deodorant that has the word “mountain” in the name, ordered Harp beer occasionally and used Irish spring soap until I realized that my skin was too sensitive to use it. You see not only am I rugged, but I’m also deeply Irish.

Anyhow, back to my wife. When we finally got home and started unpacking our groceries, I found a stick of Burt’s Bees.

One of my favorite scenes from Good Will Hunting is when Robin Williams describes the little peccadilloes that make him love his wife. This was not a little peccadillo, but it was a small gesture that made a big difference. These are the small unselfish things my wife does that make loving her so easy.