A simple compliment and my heart smiles

Have you ever thought about how far a compliment can take someone?

A couple of weeks ago my parents were visiting when one of them made the simple but genuine statement, “Leanne, your house is always so clean.”, and the other was quick to agree. Now let’s take a step back.

From my perspective, my house is not clean. There are four boys (five including hubs). Weekends and evenings involve soccer, homework, Legos, Hot Wheels, running, jumping, playing. Although all of us are involved in one shape or form in keeping the house tidy (to the extent it can be) I am the cleaner. and cleaning is just not my thing. I love a clean house, I hate the process. I put off the process. I do what I can to make the process as simple as possible .

So it really genuinely made me smile to think that they noticed. They looked past the shoes in the middle of the floor, past the stack of mail by the phone, past the Lego, Army men, Fisher Price Castle World War III battle going on in the TV room. They knew life and they saw that it was being lived here but they also knew I tried. Really tried. And they took notice and they said something.

OK, it was my parents, that’s their job. Not really. They could have come in and not noticed. They could have come in and noticed everything but the recently vacuumed floors or wiped down bathrooms. Mostly, they could have come in and not taken the time to lift me up.

Who can you lift up? Just a few moments ago I had a friend come over to borrow a cup of this or that and as she walked in she said “Wow, your house always smells so good. Would you come to my house and cook?”

Another compliment, another smile. I know that I need to take the time to pass on my smile to the next deserving friend or stranger. Will you?

– Leanne from MilitaryAvenue.com

Join Us byUnknownonTuesday, October 01, 2013 Email This BlogThis!Share to Twitter Share to Facebook Share to PinterestMilitary Life:compliments,Leanne,the wonderful feeling of accomplishment