Can you share a positive example of where you’ve felt loved?

I can think of two examples and the one thing they have in common is that they are very simple things.

The most recent is when my youngest wrote me a letter for my last birthday. My kids are prone to just spouting cliches and greeting card sayings, so I really was not expecting much when she said she wrote me a thing for my birthday.

Then I read it and it was the most wonderful thing. She wrote things that I always hoped to hear someday when she is older and more mature. She thanked me for being her mom. That I am her ‘real’ mom no matter what anyone else tries to say. That I am the one that stands by her when nobody else will and I have been there every time she has needed me. It makes me get all teary just thinking about it. There were a few other things that she mentioned too, but that is the basic summary of it.

She and I used to struggle with her English homework because she hated writing and did not like being detailed. We also spent a lot of time taking her to occupational therapy to work on her handwriting skills. This handwritten letter was honestly the perfect embodiment of everything we went through to get her to be where she is today.

The second is even more simple. I think it was on one of my birthdays when my partner and I were still dating. I don’t like making a fuss. He let me sleep in. Had breakfast ready when I woke up. I got to choose everything we did that day. We may have even gone to my favorite Thai place for dinner. For a gift, he got me a little inexpensive necklace of, I believe it was, a dopamine molecule.

It was a simple day, with my favorite foods, activities, and a gift that reflected my partner so well. It was a perfect day.

For me, those were two times in my life where I felt seen and loved. I did not feel insecure or anxious. Just two happy moments of my life caused by two people I love more than anything.