We have this completely overgrown area behind our house that was nothing but dense trees, shrubs, and foliage. My husband has been working for three months straight (digging, cutting, clearing) to carve out space for a hobbit house. He’s loved Tolkien since childhood and always dreamed of having his own.

Today he finished building wooden steps down into the cleared area and came inside absolutely glowing with excitement. I told him how proud I was that he was finally seeing his childhood dream become reality, and how good it must feel to have something solid and real after months of just clearing brush.

He looked at me and said, “Actually, that’s not why I did the steps first. After your knee replacement surgeries, I wanted to make sure you could come down and visit me. I made them for you.”

He carved space for his dream, but built the way in for me. He made love you can actually step into.