A Wonderful Gift

Over the past few weeks I have been reflecting a great deal about this Christmas. This was the first real Christmas in our house with Santa and I have been wondering how it went. I have been thinking a great deal about the gifts the girls received and if they were on target or over board. Then I stopped being “Mommy” for a moment and actual considered the gift I was given by my husband. I then realized that I had been so wrapped up in seeing everything from the girls’ point of view that I completely missed how wonderful and perfect Jason’s gift to me was.
Anyone who knows my husband and I know that we are very different from each other. When we first meet he was everything I never wanted and everything I really needed all in one. I was nothing like the usual girls he found interest in as well but somehow we connected.
I joke that his world is “black and white” and mine is “grey”. We very rarely see eye to eye on current events, politics, and religion… you name it and we probably do not stand on common ground on the topic. Do these differences make times hard, yes. Do we disagree a great deal, yes. Have we learned to just avoid these topics to keep the peace, no but we try.
So this brings me to the gift card that read “I admire you for your conviction and being you. I believe this can be a reminder to you to always be yourself.” and then my gift.

In reflecting on the gift it hit me, Jason is really the only person in my life who has never asked me to be anything but myself. Even my own family, driven by love and the best intentions, has asked in the past for me to change in both small and large ways. I do not hold this against them because looking back I needed straightening out at times and I know that they meant well by it. But Jason, through my ups and downs has always been there supporting me being true to myself.
2012 was a hard year for me and I struggled a great deal being true to myself. I unfortunately allowed myself to get mixed up between being me, pleasing others, and keeping the peace. In the end it was I who suffered the most from this. Jason stood by me through it all and this gift will always be my little reminder that I need to just “be you” and let everything fall from there where it may.
It is never the big gifts that touch my heart but the little ones that are so perfect at saying “I know you and love you”. Thank you Jason from the bottom of my heart.

-like the gift? Check out www.laureldenise.com

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