"A stale article, if you dip it in a good, warm, sunny smile, will go off better than a fresh one that you've scowled upon." - N. Hawthorne

Thursday, October 6, 2011

A moment of thanks

I gotta give a little credit to the man of the house (And no, it's not Austyn, no matter how hard he tries to make it be that way).  Tommy has been pushing anywhere from 75-80 hours a week.  I was thinking maybe he went bat crazy living in a household with four other people (three of them miniature, and very demanding) and just wanted to be out of the house!  But, it turns out, the reason is more because he is thinking ahead and building a solid cushion in the event anything should happen.  Forward thinking.  I like it. 

The problem with working so much like that is when you are home; you are practically in a vegetable state.  So, here's where another shout-out comes in to my man.  T was completely undomesticated when I met him.  Cooking was out of the question.  He learned how to do laundry about a week before we met.  And anything related to handy-man was simply a foreign language to him.  T called me Monday and said, "What's the plan for today?"  I said, "Well, same as every other school day - pickup kids, homework for a gazillion years, then dinner, shower, and bed."  His response?  "So, what should I do?". You know you've been out of the picture quite a bit if you have to ask what you are supposed to do while at home!  Before I could respond, he suggested cooking dinner.  He's been grilling  since the start of summer (another thing picked up in the course of our relationship), but surprisingly wanted to try something different because he can only do so much on the grill...and it can get tiring. 

So, I said, sure!  Why not?  It would definitely help me out a little.  So, we start discussing options on what he could do.  I suggest sloppy joes, spaghetti-o's, picking up a pre-cooked rotisserie chicken from kroger and shredding it for chicken tacos.  He says, "Wait.  Don't you think I am ready to graduate to something a little more complicated?"  Oh geez.  My mind starts going crazy thinking about how much more work I'm going to have to do because I'm going to be teaching three kids and trying to teach him how to cook at the same time.  I nearly have a panic attack because I'm scared of what the night is going to bring!  I swallow any negative thoughts and simply respond, "Sure, babe.  Whatever you want to do."  So, as I'm working with the kids, here he is, fresh home from the store, prepping dinner.  A bit later, we are sitting down to a dinner of fettuccine alfredo with grilled chicken and garlic bread.  Yea, I know what you are thinking.  He just jumped right on in, didn't he?  Well, his motto is, Go Big or Go Home.  And that's just what he did - went big, of course.

So, I have to say, sometimes when I think that I am all alone and have no one to help me out, T is really helping in many more ways than I can count.  He's mostly making us a big fat nest egg, but when he's not incubating that, he is picking up other duties so that they don't fall all on one person.  So, big kudos to the man of the house for stepping up, stepping in, and making things happen.  Great partner.  Great Daddy.

1 comment:

  1. What a sweet post! Way to go T! Colleen, I cannot tell you how happy I am OF and FOR you.

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