Love is a Blue Kettle

Love is different to everyone, and to me, lately it is symbolised in the form of a blue kettle. I know it sounds weird, and I'm not talking about falling in love with innate objects (like that scene from Anchorman- 'I love lamp.' haha) But when you're in a relationship everybody has felt that rush of joy when you are truly surprised by your partner, delighted in their thoughtfulness. It may be a personal joke you have about something or an event that they then make a gesture or get a little gift to signify it, or a favourite band or movie you share and suddenly gig tickets or a dvd appears out of the blue. Every relationship has these little moments, our latest happens to revolve around a kettle :P 

Even before we had moved in together I'd seen a blue kettle and toaster set in a catalogue and decided that I wanted one. The long running joke became that when we live together it would be  so much fun and we would make tea from the blue kettle. As the months rolled by and moving in together became more of a reality the joke was still in the background and shopping for home wares the other week we would comment on the shops stock. "oh they don't even have blue kettles, nah its not good enough for us then!' We weren't seriously looking for one, with so many other necessities to get, a $150 kettle just wasn't on our immediate list. 

Last week we were walking home from work and decided on dinner on the way home. We stopped at Ludlow Bar on Southbank. We bypassed World and a few other places because we wanted something quieter. Unfortunately quieter usually means that its quiet for a reason.(Although the service wasn't bad I wouldn't recommend it if your looking for an outstanding meal.) And because of Dry July we didn't even order good wine to make up for it! Chris mentioned that he really felt like a cup of tea, now I'm used to Chris making some funny requests and a cup of tea with his steak seemed a little odd but I didn't think much of it, until it had come up again and yet he still ordered a coke with his meal. I put it down to being a strange Scottish thing. 

We walked home and had the usual chit chat and jokes and the cup of tea came up again. I still didn't think anything of it but mentioned that we were just at the restaurant and we could have had tea there! 

Once home I just wanted to get straight in the shower and then relax, but he was still on about that bloody cup of tea insisting that I put the kettle on! I stormed into the kitchen and I'm sure you know the next bit. Of course there was my blue kettle. 

I was so surprised and confused as to how he'd had time to sneak it into the house. I started laughing and gave him a huge cuddle. I felt really overwhelmed for some reason, if somebody had told me a year ago that my boyfriend buying me a kettle would have made me so happy I would have called them crazy. But it was what it symbolised, I felt that all the happy dreams we had of our new house and the life we would be sharing had ended with the joke of the blue kettle, and now here it was, in the flesh, sitting in our kitchen and Chris had made it happen. He'd even snuck home on his lunch break so it would be waiting when I got home. It was the gesture that just seemed to signify that all the happiness we had dreamed that we would have could really come true. I might be looking into it too much, it is still after all just a kettle. A very nice kettle. That I love. It even whistles!

And I still smile thinking of that moment, its those simple little surprises that make relationships so amazing. We love all the big stuff, like birthday gifts and fancy dinners but the day to day little kindnesses is where the love really grows, wether its a funny photo sent over text, grabbing your favourite chocolate bar or magazine on their way home or even surprise household appliances! The little kindnesses that we do for each other to show how we feel. We all have these private moments which make up our lives together, that make us smile because its silly, or so nice and because it makes you feel loved! And I feel like I have a lot to smile about these days, I smile every time I make a cup of tea :)