lovingpet
Posts: 4270
Joined: 6/19/2005 Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: lucylucy Generally, I try to do nice things, things that I know will make his life easier and more fulfilling, without thinking about whether those things will be specifically recognized and I’ll be thanked for them. There’s a famous quote that I can’t find at this moment about how true charity or service is done without desire for recognition. I try to do that with contributions to charitable organizations, for example, by not signing my name when possible. My boyfriend will often give me a kind of blanket thank you, along the lines of, “Thanks for taking such good care of me.” I love that. To me, it means that he isn’t itemizing what I’ve done and keeping score. Instead, he’s enjoying a life that is quietly made better for him by me. When he does thank me for something specific that I’ve done, I often respond awkwardly. He’ll sometimes compliment a dinner I’ve made and I usually mumble, “Glad you liked it.” The specific thank yous are hard for me to deal with. I feel like saying, “Well, of course I made you a good dinner, what did you expect?” Having said all this, I have bad days where I think to myself, “Does he not notice how much I’m doing????” But this is just me having bad day, and thankfully, that doesn’t happen often, and I usually come to my senses quickly. I show appreciation to him in generally two ways. I’m very good at please and thank you. The more important way I show appreciation is to be conscious of all he does for me, not in a “what have you done for me lately” kind of way, but more like this: when I have a good day at work and feel confident about taking criticism, I acknowledge to myself that one reason I am able to do that is that he has taught me how to take criticism. It is partly that it isn't an itemized list that I like that response, but also that it is honoring my intent at the same time. It recognizes that I didn't do this to get this moment of praise from him. It was truly all about taking care of him and just wanting him to be happy. I actually hate it when someone thanks me with the insinuation that I only gave to get. It is a sideways "compliment" when my motives are put in question like that. I agree that honoring the way he has shaped me is probably the best way I can honor him. I know what I was like before. I know how far I have come and what an influential role he had in that. It doesn't hurt to sometime say those things as well. Mostly though, I think the fact that when I am with him, he can demonstrably see that I am at "home" and at peace is what drives him. After all he does with and to me, it has to speak volumes to just have that automatic, unconscious reaction of just letting go and placing my whole world in his hands. lovingpet
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If you put your head into more, you'd have to put your back into less. ~Me 10 Fluffy pts.
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