Compliments and Warm Vibes

I stole away the morning and afternoon to help O with what should have been his spinal injection appointment. The nurses screwed up and when they rescheduled, they only paid attention to "Review options for surgery" and ignored that he was supposed to get the spinal. So the appointment was a bust, and worse, the doctor didn't even go over the options, risks, etc, as he really wanted to see new MRIs of O's back and review how the injection works on the 17th.

O did surprisingly well managing his frustration and anger over the mix-up. After everything was done there, we went over to the Deli where Maria works, and as I walked in (several minutes after he had, cause I was on the phone talking to E), Maria was all ecstatic compliments, and I noticed O watching. Thought I felt a few waves of possessive jealousy, and when I walked out after giving Maria a hug, I asked him about it.

He told me it wasn't jealousy, it was pride. He was pleased to see someone else paying me well-deserved compliments (and my accepting them), and it made him feel good knowing that someone else saw my value. Of course, as I think about it now, it's visual worth, not intellectual worth, but I'll take it. Especially since I have enough low self-esteem and any compliments that can help reverse that, I'd like to soak up.