I've found that sometimes, the best thing for your heart is to show a little (or a lot of) gratitude for someone else. I'm writing this blog post during a time when my husband is out of town for work, something which has happened a lot this summer. In fact, from May to early August, Nathan has been gone a total of 5 weeks.
He has honestly never traveled this much before, and he may not be traveling again anytime soon. But I have spent many days and nights this summer by myself! There are parts of these times that are good, in all honesty. Absence really does make the heart grow fonder, and I've loved the times right after Nathan has gotten back from being gone for a week. It makes us that much more grateful for the time we have together and the times he is traveling.
One thing I've realized, though, is how unbalanced I can be without him (or someone else) around to pull me off my computer and out of the house. My issue has never been lacking the motivation to do work. It is quite the opposite! I can come home from a full day of work and then work for the rest of the evening. And never is this more apparent than when I'm home by myself, even for an evening. I can literally work myself into the ground, and then remember something I have to do and return to my computer for another 30 minutes.
But on nights when Nathan is around, he pulls me away. He makes me step back from my computer and take a second to go outside, or just to be and hang out. He has always been better than me at dropping whatever he's doing to go have fun. Every part of me hates it when he asks me to stop working at something mid-stream, but I've realized this summer how much I need that in my life. Without that, I don't think I would ever stop working - even at times when I really don't have that much to do!
So today, a little gratefulness. A little thankfulness for someone who forces me to live life a little more calmly, and live it to the fullest. A full life cannot happen behind a desk. I am so thankful for someone who knows that and forces me to live that out, even if I put up a fight! So today, a little gratefulness goes to my husband. Thank you.
