Samuel Clemens a.k.a. Mark Twain once famously said, “I can live for a month on a good compliment.”

The only compliment I ever got in ten years with my ex was when I could find the rules that came with his horseshoe game. I was even told that I was embarrassing and ridiculous when in labor.

So imagine how I feel when my new husband (of nearly nine years: we were both 53 when we tied the knot) compliments on just about anything. I’ve gotten used to it, because he makes it a habit. But I wanted to share one in particular.

Co-workers and bosses and friends were worried that he was paying alimony and simultaneously taking on providing for a second wife. He told them all, “I’m living twice as well on half as much money.” In other words, I was managing this homemaker thing well, even when I was ill. Since I’d already had a successful career in the business world, this is a sweet success, a goal reached, a bucket list item, if you will.

And that’s part of why every day around here is Valentine’s Day.