Newly.wed // 04

I operate on a currency of gold stars. The sticky kind that you can buy at the grocery store and that my mom always gave me to put on my chore chart when I completed important tasks. In my adult world now, they are imaginary, but I still get that same surge of pride when Ben tells me that I can have my gold star, and he always smiles to himself when I tell him that he's done something to earn one, so I know he appreciates them too.

It's not meant to be a competition, so we don't keep track of who has the most gold stars. But it is our way of acknowledging the other and giving them props for a job well done. For meeting an important goal or accomplishing a major task. Or for doing something that we know was not easy to do, something that took courage or guts. Sometimes we'll even ask for a gold star (and sometimes it's a cookie instead of a gold star, but the intention is the same), to let the other know that we need to feel like what we did was good and that it mattered. 

Acknowledgement is something that we forget to do for the people we love, but is so important to letting them know they are appreciated. It tells them that you value their contributions, that they are worthy, and that someone else notices their efforts. You've earned a gold star is our way of saying, simply, hey you, I think you did something awesome and what you did is worth something special.

We definitely exchanged gold stars this past weekend after getting smurfed at the Color Run. And for crossing off Run a 5k from the list of things we wanted to do this year together.