I love you more...

I think this started shortly after Steve and I were married, when I gave him a children's book called "Guess How Much I Love You" for our first Valentine's Day, but at one point in time our bedtime "I love you" gained a response of "I love you more". We play it less often now, but I love it that he still does it, partly because it's a little bit of silly and partly because it's a reminder that some things are still the same as when we first started. So it's different every time, but last night it went something like this:

Calista: I love you.

Steve: I love you more.

Calista: You don't know that; you can't read my mind. (laughing)

Steve: It's a matter of simple mathematics. Love is quantifiable, like all things, and you have a certain amount of love to give. I am a larger person, so I have more love to give. And, even if we had the same amount of love to give, you come from a larger family (Steve is the younger of two children), so your love is divided further. (all of this delivered in a very serious voice, like a professor explaining something to a student)

Calista: I was raised to believe that there are many different kinds of love and that the amount of love we have to give is limitless. (feeling I've countered his argument)

Steve: No, everything has a limit. We feel like the stars are endless, but the truth is we just don't know the exact number because no one has been able to count them all; there is a specific number of stars.

Calista: I suppose, but the sky goes on forever. I mean it's not like if you go far enough then you just run into a wall and God is sitting on the other side. (imagining the Truman Show; giggle)

Steve: Sure it is. (holding on to his argument to the end)

At that point I turned over and we reminded each other that we had to get up at 440am (Steve will be gone to a planning meeting and won't be home until Wednesday night) so we had better get some sleep.