![\"This](\"http:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/This_Is_What_Love_Looks_Like-237x300.jpg\")
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(Stolen and shared.)<\/p>\n
“When I asked my 11-year-old son to help me unload dirt from our small pickup into his mother\u2019s new garden boxes, his reaction was typical.<\/span><\/p>\n (Stolen and shared.) “When I asked my 11-year-old son to help me unload dirt from our small pickup into his mother\u2019s new garden boxes, his reaction was typical. \u201cUmmmm\u2026 I\u2019m busy right now,\u201d He said. He was playing Roblock on the family laptop, wearing sweat pants and an old T-shirt, lounging on the sofa, feet … <\/p>\n\n\u201cUmmmm\u2026 I\u2019m busy right now,\u201d He said.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\nHe was playing Roblock on the family laptop, wearing sweat pants and an old T-shirt, lounging on the sofa, feet on the coffee table.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\u201cNo you\u2019re not,\u201d I said.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\nThere was a fight, moaning, excuses… the usual.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\nMoments later, we were next to a wheelbarrow shoveling dirt. He looked at me with flat eyes, his hood up, shoulders slumped, and said, \u201cWhy do we have to do this?\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\nI thought for a moment, because I\u2019ll admit, it was a valid question. Neither of us were all that into flowers or vegetables, or any of the things that would be grown in those garden boxes. But my wife, Mel, loves gardening.<\/div>\n<\/div>\nI thought, and he waited, and finally I said, \u201cWhen you love someone, you serve them.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\nI went on, telling him that I want him to grow up to be the kind of man who serves his family, friends, and community.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\u201cThis\u201d I said while gesturing to the dirt, and the garden boxes I built the weekend before, and the wheelbarrow and shovel, and the first of many truckloads of dirt we would unload over the next few weeks, \u201cIs what love looks like.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\nHe didn\u2019t like my answer. I could see it in the way he reluctantly picked his shovel back up.<\/div>\n<\/div>\nWe finished unloading the dirt. The next day, while I was at work, and the kids and Mel had the day off because it was between terms, Mel sent me this picture. Mel picked up another load of dirt and before she had a chance to unload it, Tristan voluntarily started working. When she asked him \u201cwhy,\u201d he shrugged and said, \u201cBecause I love you.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\nI\u2019d never been prouder of my son.”<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"