as simple as an appreciation

I was in front if my laptop, when my dad was flicking the TV channels and stopped at this one Chinese drama. I did not get the whole story, but I found an part of the drama a bit interesting.

So there was this guy who happened to visit his ex-wife's house and found out that she has already re-married to another guy. He almost excused himself from that awkward situation, but apparently his ex-wife hubby was very courteous himself *funnily, he even called this guy, "Senior"!*, he asked him to stay for a family dinner. So the guy reluctantly stayed for the dinner.

When the food was finally served on the dinner table, his es-wife's new hubby was really eager and delightedly said to this guy, "Please try my wife's chicken noodle. It's the best in Beijing! It's really classic, you won't find anything like this elsewhere!" He even helped him to get the meat into his bowl, just typical Asian tradition, as a show of respect towards their guests. This new hubby was really enjoying the food, as he non-stop-ly praising his wife's own made noodle and obviously enjoyed every sip of it.

But his ex-wife said nothing, and turned to his ex-hubby and simply said, "Still the same noodle" with a clear awkward emotion on her face. While eating his noodle, this guy replied, "Yes, and it is delicious".

After the dinner is finished, this guy met a friend of him and talked to him about his ex-wife and her new husband. "She's obviously happier", he mentioned.

I didn't watch the whole story, but I got the impression that when this guy was married to his ex-wife, it was clear that he was also used to of the same noodle. But the difference is, his ex-wife's new hubby appreciates the food she made for him, while he did not. He might used to complain about her noodle and his lack of appreciation made his ex-wife got enough of him. And he realized, he'd done something wrong, may be without him even realized it before; it did not make his wife happy.

It is true that for a woman, at least for me, an appreciation is more than anything we ever wanted. For a woman to prepare or to cook or to make some efforts for someone, at least for me, is a language of showing love. There is a word of affection behind it and maybe comes with a little bit of sacrifice added.

Appreciation is what I believe, one out of few factors that forms a foundation in a relationship. That is at least for me.