CoviDiaries: Advent & Love.

A few Saturdays ago, I woke up and started getting ready for the day. K and I had an optometrist appointment at noon. So I bathed, and as I brushed my teeth, still wrapped in a navy blue towel, I suddenly felt dizzy. Then my heart started pounding so loudly, I thought maybe it had migrated to right inside my left ear. I sat on the toilet seat hoping to feel normal. I did just long enough to spit out the toothpaste and place my brush in its holder. I said a quick prayer and then called for K using his full name- something I do so rarely I knew he’d understand the urgency.

He came from the kitchen to the bathroom to find me shaking. “I can’t make it to the bedroom… I can’t walk… I feel like I’m going to pass out.” It was a struggle just to speak. He reached an arm out to steady me, but I was too far gone for a guiding arm. I held on to him as everything in my field of vision went dark. It’s really strange to be able to see one second, then not in the next- with my eyes wide open.

I struggled to speak but gibberish came out. I gave up. I felt K’s arms lift my still damp but towel-less body off the floor and onto our bed.

There have been numerous times over the years during our marriage during which K swooped me up into his arms under completely different circumstances. He did more than once on our wedding day: for a picture after taking our vows, and many hours later when we arrived at the hotel for our mini-Honeymoon.

So romantic, right? It’s Superman with Lois. It’s Flash with Iris, her arms wrapped around his neck. How about Spidey swinging around Manhattan with MJ? It’s action, strength, excitement and adrenaline. It’s a meme for titillating romance.

Welp, memes can only represent, send shorthand messages, usually photographic. And let me tell you, romance, while quite lovely, ain’t love. That picture above is, in my humble opinion, sweetly romantic. It can be perceived as a representation of love.

But l It’s drying her with that navy towel and wrapping her in blankets. It’s bringing water, a banana, and the blood pressure monitor to her. It’s kissing her on the forehead when her BP comes back 80/50 (i.e., worryingly low). It’s being relieved and supportive when a medication change results in an immediate rebound to normalcy. It’s driving her to at least 3 more doctor’s appointments in the following week.

Love is being “imitators of God.” It is “walk[ing] in love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant sacrificial offering to God.” (Ephesians 5:2)

And sometimes, that walking, may require some lifting.