Three Little Words

"I appreciate you." Those 3 little words mean so much. I bet you don't even realize they're important. What do they mean?

To appreciate is to recognize the good qualities of someone or something. I appreciate the delicious meal I had on my birthday recently. I appreciate the work therapists do. I appreciate the weather, particularly that I don't have to shovel the snow. ;)

So why am I talking about appreciation? Because it's a relatively new concept for me to vocalize that feeling or emotion and I want to explore it a bit. 

My employer appreciates that I don't give her attitude when something in my day or routine changes. 

My kids (I hope) appreciate that I haven't killed them yet. KIDDING! I hope they appreciate that I do everything I can for their success. And I hope I don't fuck them up too much. Lol 

I don't think I ever heard someone tell me that they appreciate me until last year. I first heard it from an 18 yr old friend of mine, a girl young enough to be my daughter. She said, "I appreciate you, Carrie" because I gave her a ride home from class that night. It got me thinking about how I feel about different things in my life and I wanted to express that to the appropriate parties. 

It started with Michael. I appreciate him. I appreciate that he appreciates the things I do for our family. I appreciate the financial assistance he offered me throughout the last year. I appreciate that he still supports me (my income doesn't, but I am contributing to our household). I appreciate when he notices that. I appreciate that he was always there for me while I went through my divorce and emotional upset associated with it. I appreciate his friendship, his humor, his charm, his sweetness, his goodness, him. So I let him know. And to hear those words from him mean so much to me. 

I hope I can teach my kids to understand what it means to appreciate someone or something because it's a beautiful feeling to truly value someone or something.