10 Things I had forgotten how much I loved about my husband

In no particular order:


1) No matter how mad he might be at me, he can't seem to keep himself from reaching out for me in his sleep . Doesn't matter if he's not speaking to me or if he went to sleep giving me his back. Once he is in a deep sleep he will reach out and at least place a hand on my waist or my arm if I am too far away for him to hold me.

A few times I've been mad enough at him to move away. But then when I woke up in the morning he'd reached out during the night and it had happened again.

I don't know what it means really. That he forgives me in his sleep? Because it doesn't seem to make him anymore forgiving once he's awake.

But it is so sweet and it is something that couldn't happen from half-way across the world. It was so hard when he was overseas and we would fight and he would withdraw. I wouldn't even have these little touches to compensate through the emotional starvation.

2) If I admire him or compliment him he gets really embarrassed. All I have to do is stare at him adoringly from across the room when he's talking to people and the body language will start to change and project discomfort. Then he'll come up and ask me to knock it off.:)

I love giving him compliments about his looks and gushing over him with people around BECAUSE I know how much it embarrasses him. He is just so cute when he's all embarrassed and not Mr.Cool.:)

Although with him it doesn't seem to make much difference whether there are people around or not. Even if we're alone together, compliments embarrass him unless they're frankly sexual. Then they turn him on. That's his cocky-sexual-predator mode.

But yeah, don't talk to him about his cute smile or generous heart.

3) How helpful he is around the house without being asked and without complaint - especially now that am pregnant. If he's not home and I say am going to clean, cook, do laundary etc...he'll say wait for me I'll help you. If he's around he'll sometimes try to talk me out of household chores if he's not in the mood. If I insist, he will always come with me.

I mean, he's not the greatest at this sort of stuff. He can't cook to save his life. And if he goes grocery-shopping he'll get all the wrong stuff. And if he's washed one of the bathrooms, he won't rinse properly and there will be detergent on everything.

All of which tells me that he's used to being waited on.

And so it means even more to me that he never lets me work alone. We always work around the house as a team. And even incases where I wind up having to do things again because he hasn't done them properly, it doesn't FEEL like work when he's around me. It is fun.

4) This one may not sound like a positive. My husband acts a little territorial when we're out socially. He's not shy about telling other men off for anything he considers stepping out of line with me - even just for swearing infront of me.

But in a work situation, he always lets me handle things my way with colleagues/visitors etc...I used to be nervous whenever he would be hanging around my office because his usual, that's-my-wife-so-you-better-watch-your-step-a****** attitude would have been particularly mortifying - especially in my work culture where I have been working so hard for years to make people forget that I'm a woman.

My best friend M - who is also a work colleague - noticed this and brought it to my attention last week. She's not someone who normally gets along with K very well mainly because she feels he acts too protective and overbearing when we are all out together. She said if I can get him to behave everywhere the way he behaves at work then it would be great.

Seeing him at my office, respecting my space, trusting me to take care of myself socially etc....makes me feel like a mother watching her little boy try to make her proud by being on his best behavior. I feel pleased even if unable to explain the good behavior or guarantee similar good behavior in the future.

Of course when I ask, he DOES get all embarrassed and dismissive, the way he normally does when he's done something right and is expecting me to go gushy on him any minute. See no.2 above.

5) He's great with my family - particularly my mother who can be a bit tricky because she was so angry with him for leaving me on my own. He is endlessly patient with her and never fails to reassure her and even make her laugh.

I am not as good with his family as he is with mine. Not that I don't love his mother because I do. But I am just not as patient a person as he is. Something I have to keep working on.

6) He once told me he thought I should have the things that I want, meaning material things. Which is one of the sweetest things anyone has ever said to me. And he means it, too. If I say I want something, no matter how stupid, then sooner or later he'll generally try to get it for me. If I refuse to give him all the details BECAUSE I don't want him to buy it for me, he'll still try. He'll go out and get the wrong thing but it's like he just has to get something.

I have to be careful about that actually because I know financially we're not at our best these days and he can be really crazy that way.

7) Having my fears and worries laughed away. Just having him around calms me down because he is so not the worrying type and that immediately makes everything look less worrisome.

It's like the only thing I have to worry about when he's with me is him when the relationship isn't going well or whatever because he makes all my other worries about other stuff go away. Whereas when he wasn't here everything was just so much scarier no top of all the relationship stress of long-distance.

8) All the different names he calls me. He'd stopped using most of them when he was away.

9) His foot massages.

10) His appetite. He is such a pleasure to cook for.