Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day, or to a Camel?

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?*

Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date.
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed.
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st;
Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st,
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

~ Sonnet 18, William Shakespeare~

*Actually, being compared to a summer's day in Phoenix, where I live, would NOT be a compliment.

The other day, I was fully engaged in the morning scramble -- getting my kids and myself dressed, fed, presentable and out the door to school and work (which deserves to qualify as an Olympic event in and of itself).  I stopped to take a breath, push my hair out of my face and look at my husband.  He shook his head, saying:  "You don't eat, you don't sleep, and you still look beautiful.  It must be grace."  Parts of that statement aren't true, but I will, nevertheless, store those words away like a camel*, and draw on them when in need of sustenance on my trek through the desert I call my life.

Animal locomotion: [Twenty consecutive images of a camel running]. Eadweard Muybridge, photographer. c1887.
Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress.

For me, there's nothing like a sincere, un-canned, unexpected, unsolicited compliment to make my day.  Do words have that power over you?  Some years ago, I read a book called The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman, and learned (no real surprise) that words of affirmation have the power to make me happy.  My husband, on the other hand, couldn't care less what I say; he only really cares about what I do (acts of service).  Anyway, it's an interesting way to think about how you can make the people you love (including your children) feel loved.

*By the way, did you know that camels don't actually store water in their humps?  They store fat, although they can go for long periods of time without water.  And, did you know that some say the word "camel" comes from an Arabic word derived from a root meaning "beauty"?  Who knew?!  Some days I do in fact feel like a beast of burden.