Showing Your Appreciation

How often do we take the people in our life for granted? We go on about our days, rushing here and doing this and taking care of that. Do we let the ones we care about know how much they mean to us? Or do we take them for granted? Do we think that they know how important they are to us? Do we tell them?

When Randy and I first started dating, ours was a long distance relationship. It was hard because we would only see each other on the weekends. But the circumstances were what they were, so we had no choice but to make the best of it. When Saturday morning would come and he would walk in my door, the first thing I would do would be to go to him. We would stand there for a few minutes with our arms around each other, breathing in the scent of each other and letting the other know how much we missed them. He moved here to be with me 6 months into our relationship and somehow along the line I began to stop greeting him like that. Why? I think it was because I grew so accustomed to seeing him everyday. He drove 10 miles instead of 320 miles to see me. I began to take him for granted. I thought he knew how much I appreciated him, but yet I stopped telling him and I stopped showing him. A big mistake because then he had his doubts.

Do I tell my daughter how proud of her I am? How beautiful she is and what a good girl she is? I didn’t. Do I tell my son how smart he is? How he’s growing up to be such a big boy and how much I love him? I didn’t. Do I tell Randy how grateful I am that he’s in my life? How I know that he is a good man and that I want to spend the rest of my life with him? I didn’t. See, I had no problem telling everyone else these things, but I never would tell the ones who it would mean the most to. I would tell everybody that my daughter is a good girl, that my son is smart, and that Randy is a good man. But I wouldn’t tell them.

But now I do. Now, I tell my angel how proud of her I am. Now, I tell my son how smart he is. Now, I tell Randy how much I love him. And now, when I see him, I greet him with a hug and a kiss. Because he deserves to know how much I love him. My children deserve to know how grateful for them that I am.

Appreciating a person is one thing. Showing your appreciation is what really counts.