I'm Gretchen Rubin and this is a little happier.

One thing I love about my husband Jamie is a tiny aspect of his character, but it turns

out to be a very wonderful quality, his ability to gauge when it's time to leave.

Like at our wedding, I was so absorbed in all the excitement that I lost track of time,

and I'll never forget how he leaned down to whisper in my ear.

It's time now for us to leave.

And I felt such a rush of agreement and relief.

It was time for us to leave.

He knew just the right moment.

And I'll also never forget one cold, dark night in New York City years ago.

Everyone in my family remembers this night.

My daughter Eliza just mentioned it to me a few days ago.

Now another one of Jamie's great qualities is that he often makes plans for the four of

us.

He buys tickets to plays, he finds fun restaurants, he takes us to new neighborhoods.

And on this winter Friday night, he'd made a dinner reservation and bought tickets to

a Shakespeare play that was supposed to be great.

I can't remember which one.

We were all looking forward to a big night out, but for some reason when the time came,

Jamie, Eliza, Eleanor and I were all exhausted.

Eleanor fell asleep in the taxi on the way to dinner, which she never does.

During dinner, we all struggled to make conversation, and I have to confess, I was bratty.

...