I am rewatching the TV series Modern Family at the moment. A line from one of the characters caught my attention. He says “That's the funny thing about marriage - you fall in love with this extraordinary person and over time they begin to seem ordinary. I think it's all the nagging”.
It reminded me of a time from earlier in my life when I was an Executive Assistant at a research company in Western Australia. I had recently moved back to Perth and needed a temp job ASAP. I went for an interview with a lovely man who was about to start up a research company and he needed – everything.
We did a list of things to do at my initial interview and I kept hold of that list. It included things like select an office, buy furniture, arrange corporate logo and stationery … you get the idea. It was a very long and very detailed list that included every single thing you needed to do in order to start up a brand-new business.
I got the temp role and spent the next few months setting up the offices, buying furniture and coordinating the exclusive launch party. Following that party, I took a well-deserved holiday in NZ and it was only then that my boss discovered that I was a little bit ‘extraordinary’.
I had to leave my boss alone with another temp in order for him to appreciate what a great working relationship we had formed. He needed to spend two weeks with someone who said ‘no’ to fully appreciate that I almost always said ‘yes’. I was eternally grateful the agency had sent us a sub-par temp because overnight my boss appreciated me all the more for it.
I remember returning back to work to discover that my original list had been framed and mounted on the wall next to my desk. My boss told me it was there to remind him of what an extraordinary assistant he had. It made my day and ultimately landed me the full-time role!
This is just one example but we all have them, don’t we? I love going on holiday but I think I enjoy coming home even more. No other bed is quite like yours, is it? No matter how lovely other people’s sofas are they do not match the perfect indentations we have formed in ours. We all need to remember that and more importantly we need to appreciate and acknowledge our extraordinary people and things.
It’s such a great word – extraordinary. To me it translates as special or exceptional. Slightly set apart and remarkable in some way or another.
All my family are extraordinary in one way or another but I don’t tell them that enough. I am also married to the most extraordinary man who owns both a huge brain and a massive heart, I need to tell him that more often.
Finally - I was about to add in something about the dog but I suspect that Gabe knows exactly how extraordinary he is and is just pleased that we acknowledge that from time to time.
Is it just me or do you sometimes think that your dog would do a great job running the world? Think it through – more time set aside for sleeping, if you can’t sort it out using your words then a quick nip and chase will sort it out and then finally, they tackle the really big questions of life - what’s for dinner?
Imagine it - we humans would end up as rounder, well rested and happier versions of ourselves.
I think I am onto a winning idea!