Test of True Love

My husband is an engineer. Since the day we met, he has always been the rock of my life. I knew he had his feet firmly planted on the ground, and it seemed that no matter what else went crazy, he would always be the one constant.

Three years of romance and two years of marriage later, I'm tired of him. He is the most unromantic man I know. He never bought me flowers, he never surprised me, and nothing had changed in our marriage.

After some time, I finally found the courage to tell him that I wanted out. He just sat there, speechless. My heart froze: what kind of man was I married to who didn't even know what to say to make me stay?

After a while, he spoke. "What can I do to change your mind?"

"I will stay if you can give me a good answer to this question, "I replied coldly.

"If I asked for a flower that grew on a cliff, and you knew that getting it for me would meant certain death, would you still get it for me?"

His face grew troubled. "Can I give you the answer tomorrow morning?"

With that, my heart sank. I knew that I could never be happy with a man who couldn't even give me an answer straight away.

The next morning, when I woke up, he was missing. In the living room, under a warm glass of milk, was a note. My eyes grew misty as I read it.

"Dear, I have my answer. I will never pick the flower for you if it meant certain death.
But before you leave, I hope you will give me a chance to give you my reasons.
You will always sit in front of the computer and type the whole day. But you always end up in tears because your formatting goes all over the place. I need my fingers to do the formatting for you, so that your tears will become smiles.
You like to travel but always get lost. I need my eyes to take you to the nicest places on earth.
Every time you leave the house, you forget your keys. I need my legs to run home and open the door for you.
You never know how to take care of yourself. I need my hands to help you get rid of the pesky white hair you hate so much when you grow old, to trim your nails, to feed you.
So you see, that's why I cannot pick the flower for you. Until I find someone who loves you more than I do, I will need my body to take care of you.
If you accept my reasons, then open the door and I will be waiting with your favourite muffin."

With tears streaming from my eyes, I opened the door. And there he was, extremely worried look on his face. He still had nothing to say; he just stood there, waving the packet he had in his hand in front of me.

I knew then that I would never find another man who will love me as much as my husband does.

Just because someone does not love you the way you want him to, it doesn't mean that he does not love you with all he has.

Sent to Starmag by Cheow Yuen Lim