A Love Emergency

I saw the heart shaped box of chocolates slip into the house weeks ago and my heart and soul inwardly smiled. From our sun-drenched slice of paradise with the cool Caribbean breeze rustling the palms, one might be tempted to think that when love is in the air it is merely a matter of tropical humidity and a particularly good sunset. But for some of us, love doesn't just hang in the air, it hijacks the whole body. 

So when just last Sunday night my left hip decided to go on an unscheduled, indefinite strike, rendering me about as mobile as a decorative garden statue I can tell you that true romance is not found in a box of chocolates it is found instead in the cramped, fluorescent-lit confines of the hospital emergency corridor. One minute I was doing life and the next, I was in a state of acute, horizontal bewilderment (again? IKR!) 

After insisting to my husband that my mobility may return as acutely as it vanished I was later forced to admit ice and rest wasn’t the answer and something quite bad had happened and I needed medical help. 

In the emergency room while my nervous system was busy following instructions and doing tests my husband was busy staging a peaceful (and permanent) occupation by my side. In a display of devotion that would make the most loyal golden retriever look like an indifferent stranger, he did not leave my side. Not for a coffee. Not for a stretch. Not for the sake of hospital protocol. Not for one single minute.

The facts is that we simply are a two-person unit. When the doctors and nurses did their rounds, he was the silent adjutant, and when nature called, as it does, (especially when you can’t walk), he took me and we went together and there he stayed right by my side.

There is a specific kind of intimacy that is forged in the clinical coldness of acute emergency care, his presence was the warmth that kept my own spirits upbeat. He wasn't just my support system, he was my external nervous system, providing the stability my own body had temporarily misplaced. 

So, this February 14th, I must acknowledge I’ve already had the best gift a person could ask for, a partner who sees "in sickness and in health" not as a vow, but as a literal, minute-by-minute directive.

To the man who stands by me, sits by me, and wheels me in a true ride or die fashion you are my heart and my everything! Always, all the better for being together!

I just love 14th February when as a community we find ourselves back in the grips of explicitly showing our  love, so enjoy the ride, the heart shaped chocolates and revel in the dopamine!