to my husband

Table of Contents

 

Dear Husband,
 
You walk in the door at the end of the day and I can tell from your face that it’s been a long day. Your face is wrinkled up in concentration the way it gets when you’re having one of your headaches and I worry it’s been a bad day for those. Your shoulders are slightly slumped over with weariness and I’m sure all you want to do is sit and unwind at the end of your day.
Yet somehow, all that disappears the instant our children run over to you with arms outstretched and excited cries of “Daddy, daddy, you’re home!” Suddenly your arms are full with little ones, peppering you with requests and the never-ending run down of our day.
 
 
Then you head out the door, going seamlessly from one job to another, trying to get everything you can out of those last few minutes of daylight with the other loves of your life. The rest of the evening is a flurry of activity while we get everybody fed, cleaned up, and in bed. You’re putting in overtime with stories, songs, and snuggles, taking turns with each child to the next and never complaining; after all, it’s all part of the job description.
 
I want you to know that in a world that spends so much time focusing on and applauding mothers, I see you. Even though I might not always show it, I appreciate you. By the time you come home at the end of the day I am so physically and mentally exhausted that sometimes my relief at having another set of  hands shows more than my love and appreciation that I’ve been blessed with such a wonderful husband and father to our children. Sometimes, I’m embarrassed to say, I think I even forget it myself. There are some moments when I find myself begrudging the fact that you aren’t here all day in the trenches along with me. I always snap out of it though, remembering that we each have our own battles throughout the day, neither one of us having a more important or harder calling than the other, just different. For every instance that I forget that we’re on the same team and ultimately working towards the same goal, there are about ten more that I thank my lucky stars for you.
 

Neither of us is perfect, but together we make a pretty good team, and I’m so thankful to have you by my side.