He didn’t describe roses, grand gestures, or dramatic declarations. To him, love was the background noise of an ordinary day: dishes clinking, shoes by the door, a familiar voice saying, “Babe, take out the trash.” That was the phrase he chose when asked what his dad calls his mom. Not her name. Not “honey” or “sweetheart.” Just the steady cadence of partnership he’d heard again and again. In his world, love wasn’t a label; it was a pattern of small, consistent, shared tasks.

Sitting there, I realized children are always collecting evidence. They’re not impressed by what we post or how we perform in public. They’re quietly tracking how we speak to each other when we’re tired, how we show up when it’s inconvenient, how often we choose kindness over being right. One simple answer from a child revealed it all: to them, love is whatever we repeat the most.