- your husband saying "Go back to bed, I'll get up with her," at 4 am the morning after a transatlantic flight.
- visiting with a friend you haven't seen in a long time and picking up exactly where you left off.
- two little girls shrieking and hugging each other. And then picking up exactly where they left off.
- leaving the house by 7:30 am on your day off and taking the car to the tire-repair shop so your son and daughter-in-law can drive it for a few weeks.
- buying a bunk bed in order to fit the maximum number of children and grandchildren into your house at one time.
- 14 kinds of Christmas cookies.
- saying "You two go to the movies. We'll make cookies with Katrina while you're gone."
- no, wait, 15 kinds of Christmas cookies.
- an 11-year-old girl spending over an hour crawling around on her hands and knees because her 4-year-old cousin wants to play "secret agent."
- listening to your sister sing "I Will Survive" on her niece's karaoke machine and only pointing and laughing a wee little bit.
- watching two blonde heads and one redhead huddled together around one microphone.
- seeing pure wonder on your daughter's face as she carefully holds a candle at the end of the Christmas Eve service.
- witnessing a couple quietly renewing their wedding vows after 40 years together, in the presence of the family their union created.
- watching your daughter twirl and whirl in the sunshine after seeing "The Nutcracker."
and finally, love is...
- gluten-free Chex Mix. Oh, yeah.
