Steve is a wonderful example of kindness. He is incredibly gentle toward me. He would never intentionally hurt me or cause me pain in any way. He speaks words of affirmation rather than insults. He goes out of his way to take care of me. He never has to be asked to help with anything. If he sees something that needs to be done, he just does it. He cooks. He cleans. He takes care of Claire, including diaper changes. He takes care of the yard. He does laundry. (I realize this sounds like I don't do anything, which is, of course, not true. But my point is that Steve can and will and often does help out with anything that needs to be done, all without being asked.) His gentleness, willingness, initiative and helpfulness = kindness.
Steve is also kind outside of our home. He has a ton of friends who adore him and rely on him. His supervisors and co-workers trust him. He has favor with every person he meets. He is extremely nice and patient and kind.
Dare: In addition to saying nothing negative to your spouse again today, do at least one unexpected gesture as an act of kindness.
This morning Steve got up early to run a business errand. (For those of you have read "The Story of Us" posts on our blog, you know that Steve had six jobs when I met him. He now has six jobs again, not counting his roles as husband and father, which I suppose would techinically give him eight.) He came home with these lovelies:
WOW! What a wonderful surprise! Steve is usually a "practical" giver. He puts a lot of thought into the gifts he gives, and he gives things that he knows the receipient will use. He doesn't give me flowers very often since they're really not very useful, so these were a very unexpected, out-of-the-ordinary surprise.Steve followed up the roses with a trip to Chick-Fil-A for breakfast. I LOVE Chick-Fil-A! He's not the biggest fan, so we don't go there very often. But today he went for me.
Thank you, Steven. Thank you for the roses. Thank you for breakfast. Thank you being so kind and generous and patient. Thank you for being you. Thank you for being mine.
Steve has successfully completed the dare for the day. However, as I mentioned previously, Steve has six or eight jobs. He got up early to work on one of them this morning. He left before lunchtime to work at another and won't be home until 1:30 a.m. Tomorrow morning, he has another job and then will leave around lunch until 1:30 a.m. Friday morning. Friday he has a totally different job in the morning, and then he works again until early Saturday morning. Saturday and Sunday are both work days as well, taking him away from the house most of the day and night. His next day off is Monday. Given Steve's schedule, I have not yet had a chance to complete my side of the dare. So until I complete it, we are not moving on. So from now until then, we are speaking nothing negative to each other and are attempting to perform at least one unexpected act of kindness for each other daily.
--Amy
Ahh shucks -- Amy is really the sweetest wife ever! She deserves everything I can give her and more! She takes care of our home and our daughter. She is thorough and ensures no detail is left undone. This month has turned into one of the craziest in our marriage. I've been teaching for the airline, and due to an unexpected turn of events what are supposed to be 6 hour days have turned into 12 hour days. (I really feel sorry for the students at the end of the 12 hour run.) This, in addition to the business I run from our home, has me stretched so thin that I'm not sure I'll get more than 4 hours of sleep tonight. A true unexpected gesture would be to throw caution to the wind and hang out in a hammock with my girls all day. Sadly, this could result in us living in a hammock, so I don't think I'll go quite that far. Next week things lighten up tremendously. Amy will be able to complete her dare; and I will be able to spend more time with my girls!
Thank you, Amy, for marrying me. Thank you for taking care of our home and baby. Thank you for being patient and kind. Thank you for taking care of the countless details; they don't go unnoticed.
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