How I'm Getting Grateful For My Husband This Month

I could hear his fist banging on the desk in the office, followed by a long, loud sigh.

Great, I thought. He's in a mood today.

My husband lumbered up the stairs. Like a heat-seeking missile, he was looking for a warm body to vent his frustrations to.

"Have you considered," I replied after he finished his saucy speech about the inconsiderate slowness of his laptop, "that perhaps you're just in a bad mood this morning?"

(Note: statements of this variety are ill-advised with husbands, but sometimes I can't resist.)

We bantered back and forth for a few minutes, debating his mood (like most marital spats, it was an exercise in futility), before he blurted out, "Why don't you ever comment when I'm in a good mood?"

It was a fair question. The majority of the time he is in a good mood. Friendly, obliging, and not pounding loudly on the desktop because his laptop is slow.

Of course I knew the answer: it's easier to focus on the negative than the positive. And nowhere is this more true than in marriage.

November is a month dedicated to gratitude. Thanks to social media, we have hundreds of ways to express our thanks throughout the month. Crafts. Facebook posts. Downloadable family calendars. For a lot of families, this is a particularly good time to teach kids a habit of thankfulness, and many November activities and gratitude-prompts are geared toward them. But there's one area of gratitude that can ALWAYS use a boost: marriage.