i want you to know, and i feel that you do

This small, framed poem has hung in my husband's family cottage for decades. I have seen similar prints with equally schmaltzy verses hung in the cottages and ancient farm houses all over the province. Most of them look like they date from the 1920s and are decorated with art nouveau flourishes and romantic illustration. Sentimental little ditties like this must have been the mission statements and motivational posters of their time.

As cheesy as they are, these few words have become a code of sorts between Lauchie and I. Spoken with an exaggerated school recital lilt: "I want you to know, and I feel that you do" has become the shorthand for the inadequacy of words. A shared joke over the great understatement of this little truism and a joint admission of the crazy power of mutual concern, love and respect.