Little things mean a lot - that's inspirational motivation. When I was a little girl, I was afraid of the dark. My grandmother told me sunset was Mother Nature's way to say goodnight. That was inspirational motivation for me to be brave about going to bed. Unfortunately, when Daylight Saving Time came, it stopped working. Mother Nature got to stay up later than I did.

When I was growing up, I was taught please and thank you were little things that meant a lot. They were magic words. Sometimes I think we could turn the world into the Magic Kingdom if everyone learned to say please and thank you.

A few days after John proposed we eloped to our version of the Magic Kingdom. My mother-in-law thought it was socially unacceptable that I didn't have an engagement ring. I'm sure she thought my not having a ring could cause socially unacceptable thoughts. Five months later I got an engagement ring. Actually, John's parents gave him my engagement ring for his college graduation present. Over the years my diamond engagement ring has definitely proved little things mean a lot.

Three and a half years later when I was driving to my sister's house with my baby son, I was pulled over by a policeman. Before he could get to my car, I was inspired to take my son's bottle away from him. It was a little thing that caused him a few minutes of loud distress; but instead of getting a ticket for going 40 mph in a 30 mph zone, I got sympathy.

Two and a half years later we had our second son and there were a lot of little things that meant a lot. Milk cartons being almost empty when they got knocked on the floor meant a lot. It meant a lot when my younger son didn't get poison ivy in his mouth after his older brother convinced him eating it would make him immune. It meant a lot when bikes ridden off the porch caused broken bikes - not bones.

When boys grow up, they don't know as much about inspirational motivation as girls do. John tells me he loves me without knowing it. Yesterday he folded laundry and hung mirrors in the bathroom. Men don't realize it's the little things that mean a lot in a marriage. They don't realize how romantic they can be fully dressed.