"I don't want diamond sunbursts or marble halls. I just want you."

A while back my husband and I were asked to recite the most romantic moments of our marriage. It didn't take me long to come up with one moment but I couldn't really think of any others that I thought were truly romantic. I eventually did come up with another, more generic moment that couldn't really be confined to one moment.

We've gone on lots of dates, had many a candlelit dinner with soft music playing, we've spent time on the beach, we even had a honeymoon. All of those things were nice but I wouldn't consider them truly romantic.

The first romantic moment I thought of took place a few minutes after our second baby was born. We hadn't been able to pick out a name so he arrived and spent the next several hours of his life nameless. A while after the birth the midwives who assisted in Nathaniel's delivery put me in an herbal bath. I sat for a few moments peacefully by myself and then they brought me my baby. Michael sat on the commode next to us while we lazed about in the tub. I eventually handed Nathaniel to Michael and we sat there in the quiet and unity of the moment and decided on a name.

The second, like I said, isn't really one moment. It's a group of them.

Late at night, when the kids are asleep and we're lying in bed awaiting sleep, we get silly. Very silly. And we laugh. Loudly. Over things we would scoff at in broad daylight. Sometimes there are tears. Sometimes I beg him to stop because my tummy hurts. It's a beautiful moment. It's like we're silly teenagers again. We forget about the zillion diapers we changed that day, the dishes we washed and the bills we weren't able to pay. It's just me and the husband of my youth reveling in the joy we find in each other.