Look closely at this picture. It’s a photograph of my first EVER proper attempt at watercoloring. I was pregnant with my second and a friend asked me to join her for a “Sip & Dip” session where you pair a glass of wine (I had to have grape juice but oh well) with a session of painting. I wasn’t inspired at all, so I cheated –in my defense they said I could– by searching Pinterest for easy DIY paintings. Then I followed it step by step, and voila! This painting was born.
Now you’d think I would bring it home and chuck it in-between some large books and then forget it ever existed, this amateur attempt at painting. That’s what I would have done…if not for my husband. No, he took one look at it and his entire face lit up. “It’s beautiful”, he said, his eyes full of admiration. “You should frame it, Thush!”
I laughed at the time. But in the days that followed, I started to look at the painting from a different perspective; I started looking at it the way he saw it. And I started to see that it was indeed pretty, and while it may never hang in a gallery, it would look nice in our home. Maybe dedicated to my yet-unborn daughter.
That’s how it ended up on our wall. And that’s the impact that my husband has on my life. People joke about being No.1 Fans but this man is the real deal. He sees the best in me. Always. And so, when I told him casually one day that I want to write a novel and have it published before I die, he told me that I most definitely should. That he loves the way I write. That it is, in his words, “Beautiful”. He’s the reason I saw my talent to write not just as a hobby, but as a gift. And he’s the reason I’m now actually having my book(s) published…more than one already!
It’s his birthday today. And I couldn’t buy him a tangible gift (a really yummy cake counts though, right?!). I only hope I can return the gift he keeps on giving me…the gift of seeing the best in me. The gift of steadfast support, genuine encouragement, and devotion. He’s not there half the time, but these are the immeasurable ways in which he helps me learn and grow and explore…and maybe even start to see myself the way he does. And that’s something more valuable than anything money could ever buy.
Happy birthday, husband 💗
It’s the small things Thush, always the small things. :*
Happy birthday! I loved reading this.
You are a lucky woman to have a husband like that.
And he is lucky to have you for his wife.