I remember once, having a boyfriend who I loved caring for. When he was sick, I would stroke his hair, get him warm blankets fresh from the dryer, get him his favorite video's, and of course...cook him chicken soup. His personal preference was for chicken noodle soup with rice. I would head over to his place with a bag full of groceries and make him his soup fresh in his kitchen. I would even make the chicken stock which was the base for the soup; this process would take all day long.
His roommate -a lovely young woman, fresh from a break-up, caught me off guard one time while I was making my beau his soup. She commented on what a great girlfriend I was, and how nice it was for me to come and cook for him when he was sick. Then, she said that she used to do that for M (her recent ex) when he was sick. She followed it up with the fact that M never took care of her when she was sick. It was one part observation, one part warning. She was telling me essentially to not expect my boyfriend to do the same when I needed it. I shook it off, as her just processing her recent break-up...sure that my boyfriend at the time would be far more nurturing to me then hers was to her...I was wrong. That boyfriend never took care of me when I was sick. He left me to fend for myself. He wouldn't even bring over a bag of groceries. Never mind the fact that during those years, I also had to care for my terminally ill mother. When I was sick then, my boyfriend kept his distance. I took care of myself and my mother when I was sick. I made myself my own chicken soup.
After experiencing a boyfriend like this, I told myself that the man I marry...my dream man, would have to be of the same quality as my grandfather. My grandpa showed us how much he loved us in every way he could -with both words and actions. It was demonstrated in the love and care that he took from dropping me off at school, to growing my grandma's favorite vegetables in his little patch of garden, to the loving smile that would spread over his face every morning when he would greet us. The love just seemed to beam out of that man. And I told myself that I was going to search for *that* kind of love. Someone who would be genuinely happy and loving with me, especially when I was sick and needed that kind of nurturance.
The Cute Boy -my current beau is exactly that kind of man. I was ill this weekend, and he took the Barefoot Contessa cookbook that he bought (we've been cooking recipes together out of it...in fact, we have a standing date to cook dinner together every Monday night.) anyhow...he took the cookbook to the grocery store and bought all the fixings to make me chicken soup, from scratch...including the chicken stock. :)
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