
It's such a coincidence that Grateful is the prompt from Sunday Scribblings this week. A few hours ago I was just talking to a client about how grateful I am, for my husbands ways which I know were partly inherited from
his special dad.
One thing I've sadly found out through blogging is there are many readers who DON'T want to hear the loving, positive qualities in someone's loved one. They find it nauseating. I don't know what that means about that type of person, I really don't care either! If you are this type of person, Move on to the next blog on your reader, or You WILL throw up! I am not writing this for you. I am writing this for me. For too many years, I covertly avoided drawing attention to this side of my marriage. Partly, because I didn't want to sound like I was boasting, when Most of my girlfriends constantly complained that their husbands never did enough for them. I am finally wise enough to acknowledge and appreciate HOW lucky I am and That I SHOULD be shouting it from a freaking mountain top!
Through examples from his own dad and from the love in his own heart, My husband is one of the most considerate, giving husbands that I know of. I can't believe I used to find his considerateness sometimes embarrassing, sometimes silly. What in the world was wrong with me in my youth? The example I just shared today with my client was that When our kids were younger, If we all went shopping at the mall, I wasn't to carry anything, NOT ONE bag. Instead of being grateful and honored, i used to think he was being ridiculous. I'd protest and say.. I'm not an invalid, Let me have something. But he insisted and I'd let him have his way. My boys would chime in and say... 'MoM! we can handle it".
When my husband was a small boy he routinely witnessed the kind acts his dad did for his mother. One tale is..each time his dad took food off the barbecue He would first Go over to his wife's plate and give her the best of whatever he had cooked. The perfect pork chop. The steak cooked exactly to her liking. Then my father-in-law would give the kids the next best grilled food and lastly he took for himself whatever looked burnt or less desirable. My husband follows this exact ritual with us. He has so many selfless rituals of adoration and devotion. After 28 years of marriage.. He still gets to the car door handle before I can to open my door. He opens doors for me wherever we go together. He enjoys warming up my car before I go somewhere on a cold day. Almost every single morning, He carefully schedules his time frame that he needs to get ready for work, so that he can Take the 10 minutes and blow out my hair for me. I often joke that even Madonna mustn't have a hairstylist do her hair EVERYday! He tells me it's the best 10 minutes of his morning.
He helps cleanup dinner every night and makes sure our kids also lend me a hand. He helps me clean our home, NEVER wanting me to do the heavy jobs. There is not a day that goes by that he doesn't tell me a beautiful compliment. Most importantly, He always tries to make me feel valued and important. Everything he does, he does it with my best interest in heart and mind. Gratitude is not a big enough word to describe what's in my heart for my caring, sensitive husband, my best friend forever.
What I also adore about WHO he is, is that I know he is passing on these respectful, loving rituals to our three watchful sons. To this day,
Any time I am out shopping with one of my 2 younger sons, it touches my heart that they INSIST on carrying all of the bags for me. (my eldest is a rebel when it comes to bags) All three of them are gentlemen and open doors for not only me but for anyone entering with them. With the loving examples my sons have been exposed to, and the genes that I swear are partially responsible for this extraordinary reverence and admiration for women, I feel they are bound to also be the kind of husbands, who any smart, lucky lady would be so grateful to call hers.