Compliments from One's Children

Any motivated, committed parent knows you spend a lot of years encouraging your children, finding things about which to compliment them, focusing on the good and downplaying the less-desirable.

I received two compliments from Tyler this weekend, and I'll probably remember them for the rest of my life. One was about my exterior and one about my interior.

First, the exterior. He asked if I had been going to the gym. I said, no — and that I had just realized last week that I could not longer delude myself that the ten minute walk from my car to the office in the morning and ten more minutes back to the car in the evening was really exercise. I said I needed to get back to the gym. He said, "Well, you look good." Thank you, Tyler!

Now, the interior. I had writen here last week about Unwanted Suitor and the note I had written to him, explaining why we were not going to have a relationship, and the fact that I had never heard back from him.

Tyler knew only about the initial contact from this man and the fact that it might develop into employment in Cleveland. He asked if there was anything further to that story, and I mentioned that it was the strangest "employment" conversation I had ever had. He wanted to know more, and laughed harder at every little tidbit I told him. Of course, after the children were in bed that night, he wanted me to tell Jaci the story. I did, then read to them the note I had written to Unwanted Suitor.

The next morning, he said to me, "That note was very generous."

Thank you again, Tyler.

And today's Real Simple daily thought:
May 28, 2007
Whoever one is, and wherever one is, one is always in the wrong if one is rude.
— Maurice Baring