Saying "Thanks"

This is my guy! The guy who gets me. The guy who I have been married to for 31 years now. The guy who has seen me at my utter worst, and my very best. He's been there with me through the death of both of my parents, the raising of our 3 daughters, the birth of said daughters, the college years of those daughters. His military career and retirement. The adventures we've had, some good some laughably bad! Some great! This picture was taken this past weekend on a great adventure up the west coast, Big Sur area. It was incredible!
We talked last night about what keeps us together, he caught me off guard when he said, it's because we are thankful for each other, and we thank each other. Yes, we thank each other for the big things yes of course, but for the small stuff too. He thanks me for cooking meals, for doing laundry, for taking care of the bills and all the mail. And I thank him for going to work every day, for taking out the trash, for getting me a glass of water, and the million other little things we do for each other. We say "thank you". I think we are all guilty of taking people for granted sometimes in our every day lives. But don't! Life can be short! Say the little things, they add up to the big things! Say thank you. Say I love you. Say I'm sorry. We can start to assume that our spouse knows that, I am grateful or that I love them, or that I am sorry. I'm here, right?  It is important to verbalize our thanks, it's not hard and it is not expensive, but it is valuable! Knowing that someone appreciates you makes doing something for them more enjoyable and it makes us want to do more. It's how we are wired. Just like mean or bad words are harmful, grateful and sweet words and uplifting, encouraging and valuable to our hearts, our minds and our emotions. We can all use more kindness. Let's start at home and say "thank you" to our loved ones today. Even if it feels weird, I promise you no, one ever stood at a casket and said, "I told them I appreciated them too much!"  No quite the opposite, most people say
"I wish I would have told them how much they meant to me." Seize the day! Start this evening, when you say good night, say thanks too.