Expectations
I had an experience with a young girl I work with...she was mortally wounded because her husband of one year did less than she expected of him for their first anniversary. I was about to deliver my "expectation speech" when she pointed out that her father still leaves love notes for her mother and buys flowers and all the lovey dovey stuff that she wants. She was insistant that she DESERVES to be treated that way and he better step up to the plate or out he goes. That is what she has seen all of her life and those ARE her expectations.
She got me thinking about my own approach to expectations...if I expect nothing (and therefore everything is a gift) does that mean I am lowering my standards? I am protecting myself from dissappointment but is that enough to not be dissappointed? In her case she grew up with one example...and I grew up with another...is that where our expectations sprout?
My expectations of the A in his disease SHOULD be nonexsistant but what about the rest?
So any thoughts on what we feel we deserve vs. our expectations?