What's the Difference

The other day my husband thanked me for being so good to him. I said you're welcome and silently recapped the days events to pick out the special deed that evoked such a response. Of course he's thanked me in the past but this time it was the way he said it that made me stop and think. Nothing stood out that I could recall so I asked; "What did I do to deserve a thank you?" "For taking such good care of me. If I knew it was going to be like this I would have made you stay home a long time ago". Hum, I'm not doing anything different than what I've been doing, I replied. "That's true", he said "but now you have 70 hours a week to do it in." Before, I would come home exhausted, change out of my work clothes and prepare dinner. Even though some nights consisted of box-dinners or sandwiches and soup, never-the-less, dinner was served, dishes picked up, placed in the dishwasher and maybe time found to enjoy a little t.v. together. Then off to my room to pick out the next day's attire, wash-up, brush teeth and pass out. You see, I'm a "check-list person". Someone who isn't satisfied with ones self unless everything needing to be done is done before calling it a day and on top of that I over analyze pretty much everything done or said. It's not that I pick apart or split hairs but to truly make efforts to understand where someone is coming from, and if I'm the cause of a negative feeling or reaction I will try to fix it. So, I find myself thinking about what he said for understanding. How is there a difference between now and a month ago if I'm doing the same things? Now, when he comes home from work I greet him with a smile and hug almost racing to his arms. Not like before when he would find me in the kitchen, head down grumbling about my days ordeal and barely acknowledging his arrival. I guess before I treated him like a chore, just one more thing on a list of many even though I've always placed him first. The difference is Quality not Quantity and I now realize what his undertone meant even if he doesn't. Funny, I would spend quality time with the kids when they were growing up and still home. For years I would preach to my staff the importance of a quality call, service and performance. And yet with my own husband I lost sight of the most important element, Quality.