“Is it that obvious?”

Obvious

“Stop looking at her like that! We all know that you dig her!” “Is it that obvious?” “Yes, it is! So stop!” That was my best friend making fun of my future husband, who wasn’t even my boyfriend back then.

Years after we got married, friends, who didn’t know us back then, will tell me from time to time how obvious it was that he loved me. Somedays I believed them. After all what we went though, my husband was indeed still there: telling me how beautiful I was; despite the wrinkles that have started to slowly crease their ways around my eyes and mouth. Making me laugh, especially when my spirits were down. Battling my battles, being my best cheerleader, my number one fan. Those days, all I needed was a glance at his face and I could tell that he indeed still loved me!

Other times I doubted them. What love? Where did they see it? What were they talking about? What could be left after all the fights we had, all the pain we caused each other? Wasn’t it obvious that there were as many remorses as there were regrets between us? How could they be blind to the emotional scars that were plastered all over our faces?  Couldn’t they tell that when they were saying that it was obvious he loved me, all we were both wishing for, was to be away from each other?

And what about me, I wondered? Did they ever tell him that it was obvious I still loved him too? Was a simple glance at my face enough to make him believe them? Or was it the reminder of our fights that made him doubt them as well? Unless he, just like me, knew deep down that it was not about the pain or the regrets, but the battles fought together and the difficulties surmounted hand-in-hand that made it obvious that we indeed still loved each other!