我从小生活在一个没有温暖，伤痕累累的家庭，这让我缺乏自信，内心苍凉。

我新婚时，丈夫每天早晨都会对我说同样的话。“你今天真美。”

“说谎。”望着镜中瘦弱、不施粉黛的自己，我咧嘴一笑，回敬丈夫。

结婚两周年，丈夫拥抱着我，告诉我，我很美丽。“谢谢你。”温柔的话语终于在我心里开了花。

许多年过去了，丈夫的头发开始变灰，我也不再瘦弱，而依然不变的还是那留下脸庞的轻轻一吻和那一句“你今天真美”。

温柔的话语具有感动灵魂的力量，哪怕是一个简单的动作，一句简单的话语，只要满怀爱意，便能慰藉心灵，抚平创伤。

My newlywed husband said the same thing every morning. "You're beautiful today."

One glance in the mirror revealed that it was far from the truth.

A skinny girl with mashed¹ hair on one side of her head and no makeup² smiled back at me. I could feel my sticky morning breath.

"Liar," I shot back with a grin.

It was my usual response. My mother's first husband was not a kind man and his verbal and physical abuse forced her and her two children to find a safe place. He showed up on her doorstep one day with roses. She let him in and he beat her with those roses and took advantage of her. Nine months later she gave birth to a 9 lb. 13 oz. baby girl -- me.

The harsh words we heard growing up took root. I had trouble seeing myself as someone of value. I had been married two years when I surprised myself. My husband wrapped his arms around me and told me I was beautiful.

"Thank you," I said.

The same thin girl with the mousy brown hair still stared back at me in the mirror, but somehow the words had finally blossomed in my heart.

A lot of years have passed. My husband has grey in his hair. I'm no longer skinny. Last week I woke up and my husband's face was inches from mine.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

I covered my mouth, trying to hide my morning breath. He reached down and kissed my face.

"What I do every morning," he said.

He leaves in the early hours of the morning while I sleep. I miss our morning conversations, but I had not realized that he continued to tell me that he loved me even while I slept. When he left, I rolled over and hugged my pillow. I envisioned the picture of me lightly snoring with my mouth open and giggled³.

What a man! My husband understands my past. He's been beside me as I've grown from an unsure young girl to a confident woman, mother, speaker and author.

But I'm not sure that he understands the part he played in that transition. The words I heard growing up pierced my soul, yet his words pierced even deeper.

This Anniversary Day I plan to wake early. I want to tell Richard how much I love him. He may look in the mirror and see an extra pound or two, or wish for the day when his hair was dark and curly, but all I'll see is the man who saw something in me when I couldn't see it myself, and who leaves butterfly kisses, even after twenty-three years of marriage.

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