Love Is Not Always Exciting

Love is not always candlelit dinners and overseas vacations and sharable moments for social media. Love is not always passionate sex and surprise dates and butterflies in the stomach. Most of the time, love is a little less exciting.

Love is sitting on opposite ends of the couch while one of you plays video games and the other one reads from a book, stopping every few chapters/levels to make a comment or offer a kiss.

Love is texting each other something ridiculous from different rooms of the house, waiting to hear their phone buzz, and then listening for their reaction.

Love is wearing oversized sweatshirts and ripped pajama tops in front of them because you couldn’t care less what you look like but having them compliment you anyway because they think you look beautiful even when you feel like trash.

Love is saving up episodes of a show you both love so you can binge-watch them together on a lazy day when you have free time to spend together.

Love is asking them if they need anything whenever you rummage through the fridge or step foot into the kitchen.

Love is waiting a little longer than you would like for dinner because you don’t want to eat without your person, so you wait the extra hour for them to come home from work.

Love is buying a case of beer and playing a game of Life or Monopoly or Uno and making the loser drink.

Love is walking through stores like Target and Home Goods and actually getting excited about picking out new towels for your kitchen and new cling-on decorations for your windows.

Love is never leaving a fast food joint or restaurant without something to bring home to the other person, even if they claimed they were not hungry and didn’t need anything.

Love is putting your friends and family on speaker when they call because your person wants to say hello too.

Love is pulling the car close to the restaurant and then parking so the other person doesn’t get drenched in rain.

Love is calling them — not just because you missed then and want to hear their voice — but also to ask them to grab the mail before they walk through the door or remind them to pick up ketchup on their way home.

Love is offering them a piece of whatever candy you are eating when they enter the room, even if you originally wanted to save the whole thing for yourself.

Love is walking around in your pajamas for half the day and falling asleep on the couch because you went out drinking the night before and are both way too tired to have another exciting night.

Love is folding laundry together, putting away dishes together, mowing the lawn together.

Love is about cooperation. Communication. Cohabitation.

Love is not always exciting. It’s not always kisses in the rain and sex on tabletops — so you have to make sure you choose someone you love spending time with during mundane days, the days when you have absolutely nothing to do except exist in the same room together.