Back in December 2018, my boyfriend Nate and I were on a vacation with his family in Manchester, U.K. for the holidays. It was such a fun trip for many reasons; it was my first time seeing an English Premier League soccer match (Nate’s favorite team in the world is Liverpool), we visited Dublin, Ireland + the Guinness Factory, and of course being overseas during Christmastime was lovely. But even with all of those amazing memories, one thing that stuck out most from that trip was seemingly minor in comparison.
One morning while still snuggly in bed at our hotel, Nate said three simple words that have proven to be more meaningful to our relationship than I could have ever imagined:
“I’m grateful that…”
In all honesty, I forget what the rest of the sentence was that morning — perhaps something along the lines of “I’m grateful that you’re here spending time with me and my family over the holidays.” — and yet, this simple phrase has made such a big impact ever since.
As someone who’s Love Language is “Words of Affirmation” (more on that in a future blog post) I was so blown away by this simple but deeply meaningful gesture, and eagerly reciprocated with sharing gratitude for Nate. We both felt so appreciated that morning and for the rest of the trip, we woke up sharing what we were grateful for about the other person. This started a chain of gratitude that has lasted for 18 months and brings daily happiness and joy.
Nate and I have been in a Long Distance Relationship for 3.5 years now, and the last 1.5 years has been filled with a mix of in-person and texts of our ‘morning gratitude.’
Its now engrained in our routine and something that we don’t skip.
Sometimes, our “morning gratitude” is super simple—“I’m grateful that you made me coffee this morning” or “I’m grateful that you make me laugh,” but other times they are deep, thoughtful and take time to reflect on before sending. No matter what Nate says in his morning gratitude, I am always extremely happy to be on the receiving end of the statement, and it starts my morning off with a smile.
That is my favorite relationship tradition of ours so far. It may seem simple on the outside, but I’m proud of us for reminding to share gratitude with each other for over 500 days (and counting).
Here are examples of some of our morning gratitude texts…
