A Quote from my husband...

Okay, camera still broken. That's okay, because I'm going to type in the first line my husband presented in the scrapbook he gave me, along with the quilt.
The first page of the scrapbook says, "A star that shines so bright as to make others seem dim shines as it was made, for a greater reason. It is not to be questioned, or even understood. It is to be enjoyed and loved for the gift that it is."

Isn't that just sweet? Couldn't you just melt? The person who did not appreciate someone feeling this way about them... well, that would be a very strange person. When I read it again this morning, it got me thinking. Okay. How cool would it be if everyone just appreciated us as we were? Wouldn't we all be so grateful if no one tried to change us, or assumed we're doing something bad, if we were just doing our best? I just decided that this very first line that my husband wrote could fill a whole blog entry. (What a guy *smile*) As a woman, I have run into competitiveness since grade school. Why do women compete so hard with other women? In college, if I approached a group of girls, I would get the complete lookover, and they would wait to see if whatever I said was going to measure up to their standards. If I went and joined a group of men, in a not thinking about sex way, I was always accepted in a friendly, "How you doing?" manner. Of course, every situation is different, but this competitiveness does happen, people, and often in situations that just don't seem to call for it. It seems to me that we all have essentially the same struggles for respect and equality with men. Are we competing with other women for our heirarchy in the pack? If it's something that's programmed as a survival mechanism in our brain, from way back in the 'fight for food' age, I can forgive it. If it's just snarkiness so we can feel better about ourselves, I would like us all to get over it. Please.

"Hi, how are you? I'm sure you're friendly, as I am friendly, so let's be friendly, shall we?"

As an adult, if I meet a woman who is just friendly, no comparing, sizing up or anything like that, but just geniune interest in meeting someone new, it's all I can do not to drag her home and make her be my friend. I am constantly searching for more people like that. Thankfully, I have met some.

Whew! That was quite a tangent there. Obviously, my husband respects me, but even better than that, he seems to enjoy me, even if I don't think I'm nearly as clever or amusing as he is. But guess what? He's not comparing me! Thanks for letting me be me! That's the best gift. I feel so comfortable and appreciated. Very good stuff.

I'll end this post with that, since the poem itself is rather lengthy, and will definitely be worthy of its own entry.