The little things.

After almost seven years together

(I had to subtract the dates to ensure my accuracy) 

it's way too easy to forget to do little niceties for one another. 

And I always seem to notice when Ryan doesn't bring home an unexpected bouquet of 

flowers on a random weekday or surprise me with an unplanned date night,

but I often very conveniently forget that the blame falls both ways.

I'm embarrassed to admit that I can probably count on one hand the

number of times I've gone out of my way to do something nice for Ryan in the past

few months. Sometimes I'll come up with a nice idea but then life always seems to get in the way and the time or money involved convinces me to put if off until another nonspecific time. 

I forget that surprises don't have to be spectacular and expensive.

Sometimes it just takes the little things, like a surprise chicken pot pie

and a pan of brownies after a long day of work and a tough engineering exam

to say, "I love and appreciate everything you do."