My Post it Note Adventure:
I knew that I wanted to do the post it note adventure. I thought it would be fun and that it would be a positive experience but I didn’t know that it would be more than just fun when I started.
Some things I was expecting:
To have fun
A friendly competition to make us both happy
Being an awesome hider of notes
I wasn’t expecting:
More sweetness inthe house
The fun the kids had in discovering notes
My competitve side to kick in
We became more relaxed with each other
I’ve been seeing more good, in everything and everyone
Being more open to good happening in our life
Both of us serving each other better
Compliments to begin flowing more easily in conversation
My heart to open up so much more to my husband
To buy my husband tickets to a football games he’s had high hopes for attending
How fun it was to have a grateful heart
How happy it made me to see his happiness at being seen
Even though ‘words of appreciation’ isn’t either of our Love Languages it still meant a lot to each of us to be seen for the contributions we make everyday
More playfulness
The kids asking, “Dad, did you see all of your notes?” (It was like they were in on a secret because Mike would say: Don’t tell me! And they would have him list all of the ones he remembered seeing.)
The security and happiness my kids experience by seeing their parents’ gratefulness for each other all over the house.
I know appreciation is extremely important in marriage (or any relationship for that matter). I studied marriage in college and knew that it was vital to a healthy and happy marriage. To see that experiment in the form of our adventure was pretty amazing though.
To me, Mike and I have always been pretty good at being kind to each other. We have our moments occasionally but overall we make a concerted effort to be aware of our words and the affect they can have on the other people around us.
When we got talked about our adventure, I knew I was going to be good at hiding my notes. I love the unexpected placement of a note and the accompanying surprise. I was really happy that so many of my hiding places were a big surprise to Mike. It made me smile when he found one in the eggs, under the toliet lid, when he opened his ipad, in the cereal box, and other awesome places.
The thing is sometimes you know things in your head. You hear them and they make sense. You believe them. And you know those things happen in real life. They may not happen to you but they happen. Or they may be happening in your life you’re just not noticing.
With this adventure I wasn’t really thinking about how the adventure would affect our kids. It seemed like it was just a marriage adventure. It turns out that my kids loved seeing our notes around the house. No matter who you are, no matter how old you get, no matter how much “eewww-ing” you do, it still makes you feel more secure to know that your parents really cherish one another. I think the affect it had on our kids was one of the really fun parts of our little adventure.
One of the moments to completely take me by surprise was when I was writing this post. Last week was very intense. It was the first week of A Year of Familyness and I wanted it to go off perfectly. I was writing about seeing your spouse and the amazing person they are, the things they do, and that they deserve to be recognized.
I was completely overcome with appreciation for my awesome husband. He had done so many little things all week to make each day easier. He had read every blog post, made arrangements for the kids, and given me encouragement every time I doubted myself. He had been amazing and I wanted to do something for him. I wanted it to be something he would never expect. Through my tears of gratitude I bought he and Emmett tickets to the game they’ve been wanting to see all year.
The truth of the matter…it’s been ages since I’ve given Mike an expensive (for us) gift to surprise him purely out of gratitude. The moment filled my heart up for him in such an unexpected way.
I’m already loving A Year of Familyness more than I expected.
The unexpected can be the best part of life.
**I’m dying to hear about your Post it Note Adventure! Please tell your story, no matter how big or small, whether you did it for a day, an hour, or the whole week. I want to hear! Please tell me in the comments. 🙂
By day, I photograph families. By night, I build forts the size of elephants with my family. I live in a yellow house. I believe real life is the best getaway ever.
4 Comments
I am back home now, and I so want to do this! But I think I’m just going to jump right in where you are, rather than try to catch up. But maybe I can find a stray post-it note somewhere and do just one. 😉
A stray post-it note will be a great addition to this week. Adventures can add to each other or come and go through out the year. They definitely don’t have to stay in a confined week. 🙂
The notes were very fun, my friend. You definitely won the most clever, secret-hiding place award!
Catching up on your blog this week….I love the post it notes. I am so doing this. Thanks!