Early in our marriage, Joe and I filled up a Thankful Jar for the entire month of November. It was a great opportunity for me to recognize all of the ways that Joe blesses my life! I started to notice how many things I had been taking for granted. It made me realize that I don’t say “thank you” to my husband nearly enough. I feel like there are some things I had started expecting him to do just because we are married. I don’t feel like you need to thank your spouse for every little thing they do. But I do think that I could be a bit more verbally grateful to him for all of the things he does for me on a daily basis.
Related: 20 Things to Thank Your Spouse for Daily
It sounds so simple, but your spouse’s personality traits and the things that they do were what attracted you to them in the first place. Those things that made you want to marry them and that make you a great team today are important!
Joe is really the perfect husband for me, and he has so many qualities and quirks that I didn’t even know I needed in a spouse. I’m a much better person with him in my life. He keeps me in check and teaches me something new every day. I am thankful that he is who he is and that he made me one of the luckiest girls in the world when he asked me to be his wife.
How often do you thank your spouse for going to work and making money for your family’s needs? Do you thank them for the little things that they do around the house that are “expected” of them? Maybe your husband is on eternal toilet cleaning duty. Or is the one who gets up in the morning to let the dog out every day. You may feel that it’s a fair trade for you cooking dinner every night or always being the one to do the dusting. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t thank him for those things he does every once and a while.
Let your spouse know that you notice their efforts and make them feel appreciated on a daily basis. Even if you aren’t thanking them every single time the task gets done. They’ll still think about those times that you’ve expressed gratitude while they are doing it.
When I started my crazy school schedule at the beginning of this year (2014), my life was a little hectic and stressful. And because of that, my love languages shifted a little bit. Joe stepped up to the plate and started filling those needs without me even realizing it. I’d come home from class on Wednesday nights (his day off) to a sparkling clean house, laundry washed/folded/put away, and no dishes in the sink.
Having such a clean house took a huge weight off my shoulders. And it allowed me to focus on my homework and other tasks like I needed to. It still makes me super happy to come home to a clean garage that I can finally park in. Some little project I’d been meaning to do taken care of, or some area of our house cleaned. I try to remember to thank Joe every time I notice his efforts because they really mean a lot to me!
I’m not easy to surprise because if I have any inkling that something is up, I ask questions until I figure out what’s going on. The first time Joe managed to surprise me, I was more excited about the surprise itself than the actual gesture. And I was super impressed with how he pulled it off. The present was great, but when I tell people about it, I tend to focus on the fact that he was able to keep me completely in the dark about it.
He finds ways to surprise me in little ways all the time. Whether it’s bringing home something that I’ve been meaning to buy but haven’t been able to justify yet. Leaving the licorice that I’m craving in my car for me to find. Or making sure I have chocolate on a day when I’m really stressed and grumpy. All of these little things he does make me happy because I know that he’s thinking about me, paying attention to what I say and knows me well.
What other things do you thank your spouse for?
