I pride myself on believing I do a great job of making my partner feel loved and appreciated. After all, I speak on this topic all the time and teach others tools and tricks to improving their connections with their partners.

Today I was listening to Laura Heck’s talk at Google about the science of great relationships. One suggestion she offers is to set a daily timer on your phone to send your partner a quick text about how they positively impact your life. So I did.

Here is how it went down:

Now, disregard that fact that he spelled too wrong (we can blame that one on Siri) or the fact that the word for would have made more sense. The point is, I was shocked that this was his response. When we talked about it shortly after I texted him, we realized that I often offer more indirect comments that mean basically the same thing (i.e.: I love our new house. Thank you for buying me the one I wanted.) – but I rarely come out and use these direct words, “Thank you for taking such good care of us”. Today, it made a difference in his life to hear the words directly. So, thank you, Laura!