Things I Can Appreciate

NICJ continues to surprise me (and frustrate me, but that is for another post) - these are the things that surprise me and make me smile:

When I get home each day, if he is already home, he comes out to the car and meets me, and carries my bag inside.
When he's been home all day, he can't wait to tell me all the stuff he's gotten done around the house - like fixing the mower and finishing the backyard.
Mowing, something I used to do, or I used to have to beg him to help me with is now something he is obsessed with keeping neat and presentable. It's an odd adjustment for me that I am still surprised by, but that I enjoy.
When he sleeps properly - he's happy, helpful, and productive. (Probably we can say that about almost anyone, but it's a Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde kind of thing with him.)
When he's being productive, he finds all sorts of little projects that surprise me and make me think "oh, yeah, this is what it's like to have a helpful mate."
If I am 30-45 minutes late, he calls just to check on me. Not mean and cranky, just hope you aren't in a ditch kind of check on me.
He takes care of the dogs - every day, more than once a day, without me asking or reminding him. I kind of consider them his pets now.

When I am having a bad day, or am really tired, he seems to instinctively know this and he is even more helpful and nice. Going out of his way to make the evening easier for me.

It may seem like these things are small - and in truth, they are, but in the daily assessment I make of our life and where I am going and what I am doing, I have to give credit - I have to acknowledge good deeds. Doesn't make me blind to the rest, but makes me feel like a more open and generous person - rather than the jaded, cranky, bitter, mean person I sometimes feel I've become. So maybe it's not about his behaviour all the time, but how I perceive it and that I do that with an open mind.