Still melting my heart.

Since falling into a married-life routine Nick and I have come to enjoy our down time together. The work day is over, we've just enjoyed a nice home cooked meal (or takeout from time to time) and we're ready to unwind.

The other night while cleaning up dinner dishes together (thank goodness he does dishes!) I asked an increasingly usual question, "So, what's the movie for tonight?"

Nick replied, "Well what are you in the mood for?" I simply said, "Eh, you decide."

Nick very, very seriously looks at me and said, "We should decide together." Personally, it didn't matter to me he knows the drill by now:
1. I prefer romantic comedies, but will settle for a good sometimes even raunchy comedy
2. I love tear jerkers between comedies, just for an even mix of emotions
3. I don't like corny, unrealistic action movies
4. I hate gore and most sci-fi
5. Violent, realistic war movies upset me

And we both have too active of imaginations to watch anything scary. So it's pretty simple to please me.

When I asked him why he said matter-of-factly, "Because we're a family."

It stopped me dead in my tracks. I must have looked ridiculous - fry pan in one hand, dish towel in the other, dumbfounded look on my face. I always thought a couple really couldn't be considered a "family". When you address your holiday cards to the newlyweds or empty nesters it's always Mr. and Mrs. Jones or Jane and John Smith. Not the Jones Family. Or at least that was my assumption.

I never thought we would be a "family" until a baby Nick or baby Nichole made their way into this world. It melted my heart and brought tears to my eyes. I didn't want to let on it touched me so much, but it did.

The Merriam-Webster dictionary online simply defines family as, ": a group of individuals living under one roof and usually under one head".

We are a family. Even just the two of us. We are 100-percent living for each other. His needs are my needs, mine his. We are putting the other first. Every decision we make has the other in mind.

And no, the midweek flick is not a life or death decision, but symbolic of all the decisions we have to make together in the future. It's a symbol for the sacrifices and comprises ahead that we'll now make as a family.

© Nichole DeMario, 2010 – 2011. All rights reserved