Do you love me
12 Baskets Full
A Couple’s Basket February 2021
We all dream of true love, we all applaud brave heroes who save pretty damsels, we all like happy endings — and not just when we walk out of the cinema or turn the last page of a novel, but especially in real life. In matters of the heart, I find there are more believers than cynics, more dreamers than realists!
Fairy tales, love poems and stirring ballads, romance novels and chick flicks have at various times, all stirred my heart. Therefore, I find it interesting that when I had to choose an inspirational extract, it is this song from Fiddler on the Roof, that won.
As Tevye and Golde grapple with the challenges a fast-changing world is bringing to their faith and family, they are confronted among other things, with the concept of love. While the notion that it plays a role in marriage seems preposterous to two people who were raised in the tradition of arranged marriages, Tevye’s heart will not rest.
Tevye: “Golde, I have decided to give Perchik permission to become engaged to our daughter, Hodel.”
Golde: “What??? He’s poor! He has nothing, absolutely nothing!”
Tevye: “He’s a good man, Golde. I like him. And what’s more important, Hodel likes him. Hodel loves him. So, what can we do? It’s a new world… A new world. Love. Golde…Do you love me?”
Golde: Do I what?
Tevye: Do you love me?
Golde: Do I love you?
With our daughters getting married
And this trouble in the town
You’re upset, you’re worn out
Go inside, go lie down!
Maybe it’s indigestion
Tevye: “Golde I’m asking you a question…Do you love me?”
Golde: You’re a fool
Tevye: “I know…But do you love me?”
Golde: Do I love you?
For twenty-five years I’ve washed your clothes
Cooked your meals, cleaned your house
Given you children, milked the cow
After twenty-five years, why talk about love right now?
Tevye: Golde, the first time I met you was on our wedding day…I was scared
Golde: I was shy
Tevye: I was nervous
Golde: So was I
Tevye: But my father and my mother
Said we’d learn to love each other
And now I’m asking, Golde
Do you love me?
Golde: I’m your wife
Tevye: “I know…” But do you love me?
Golde: Do I love him?
For twenty-five years I’ve lived with him
Fought him, starved with him
Twenty-five years my bed is his
If that’s not love, what is?
Tevye: Then you love me?
Golde: I suppose I do
Tevye: And I suppose I love you too
Both: It doesn’t change a thing
But even so
After twenty-five years
It’s nice to know. [1]
Let’s get practical!
Whether you are dating, engaged or married, whether you are a teenager or have embraced your grey hair long time ago, I believe it is important to keep the romance alive. Therefore, Zea and I put our heads together and came up with some affordable and not so affordable date ideas. This will either come naturally or not! Regardless, the idea is that you relax, have fun, enjoy each other’s company, and explore new ways to connect this month and every other month for as long as you shall live.
- Daily connect with God as a couple and pray together. This month we have compiled a special study and meditation on 1 Corinthians 13. Enjoy!
- Enjoy a picnic in your living room or your back yard, at the beach or on a hillside. Enjoy the change of food and scenery.
- Try a recipe together – whether an old family favourite or a new challenge, whether mere sandwiches or a three-course meal. I hope there will be enough leftovers for a lunch box the next day.
- Go berry picking, find a moonlight maze, do a parkrun or visit your local botanical gardens – as long as you breathe out technology and breathe in some fresh air.
- Visit your favourite restaurant or a fancy new one — even if you can only afford dessert and coffee.
- Explore a neighbouring town or farming community close to you.
- Visit a Farmer’s market.
- Support your local arts theatre.
- Camp out in your back yard, star gaze from your front yard.
- Watch both the sunrise and sunset in one 24 hours.
- Play board games. Invite another couple or two to join in the fun.
- Go to a drive-in movie theater – an old trend that is becoming popular again or do a movie night/marathon at home.
- Read a book together.
- Create a bucket list for the remainder of the year, for when the kids leave the house, for marriage, for life!
- Sign up for a fun class: pottery, painting, snorkeling, dancing, shooting range – the possibilities are endless.
- Visit a plant nursery and/or start a herb garden.
- Wander through the mall, and then get stuck at a cup-cake/chocolate/cheese shop.
- Have a photoshoot.
- Attend a night market.
- Go bowling.
- Clean out the garage, a cupboard or two or three and bless a charity with your ‘treasures’.
- Spend the day at the beach.
- Do a day hike with a local hiking club and make new friends.
- Listen to some golden oldies from the time you dated, while you page through family albums! Crafters may want to turn this into a scrapbooking project.
- Rent canoes and escape to the great outdoors where conversation is superfluous.
- Take a road trip.
- Go house hunting
- Go on a virtual adventure – the internet is brimming with opportunities to take you places.
[1] www.stlyrics.com › F › Fiddler on the Roof
