Almost two years ago, I was finally ushered into the “Fatherhood Club.” Nothing can prepare you for the drastic change that comes with membership, but I found it’s a never ending “on-the-job-training” unpaid internship that is unlike anything else I’ve ever experience. And although my wife has a stack of books that tell you everything you need to know about babies…I haven’t found any books that tell you everything about fathers. Now, with one boy fast asleep, and the other nursing with his mom, I realize the reason there are no such books, or no such books worth reading, is because I am learning everything I need to know about being a father from my wife…and that amazes me. So here are the Ten Reasons My Wife Amazes me:
- She has the ability to control the uncontrollable. Each day I head off to work, which could mean at the job site, the office, or the home office, I am in control of the work load, appointments, or client meetings. My business has to be a fairly organized and an efficient environment in order to be profitable and to grow. My wife on the other hand, spends her day in a very uncontrolled environment…she never knows when the Meester is going to decide that he has to see what is at the end of the roll of toilet paper, the dogs decide that today will be the day they bring the dead turtle into the house, or when E decides that he just needs another hour latched onto mommy. No matter what she had planned for the day, the uncontrollable takes priority, and she takes it all in stride…and that amazes.
- I never go hungry. If left up to me, my family would survive on tuna sandwiches and cereal. But my wife makes sure that doesn’t happen. Every once in a while, she’ll need me to do the grocery shopping. And when this unfortunate event occurs, she make a grocery list for me. Now this, in and of itself is not all that amazing, I can make a grocery list…tuna and cereal…but her list does amaze me. She makes the list in the order in which I will encounter the items in the store…isle by isle, thus eliminating the need for the cell phone call…”Honey, I’m lost…where do I find the butter?”…and that amazes me.
- She has pushed the two human beings out of her body…amazing…without drugs…unbelievably amazing…enough said.
- She lies to me. I had the idea of going camping for our anniversary and we spent two days water logged and swatting mosquitoes. She said she loved it…liar…and that amazes me.
- She likes watching baseball on TV. Now, I’m all for going to a game and eating popcorn and hotdogs and watching the game in person, but she’ll actually watch it on TV, only if there no Colt’s game, or Nascar race on…a regular sports fan…that amazes me.
- She ran half of a half marathon…five months pregnant. She’s a tough lady…(see number 3)…that amazes me.
- She’s smarter than I am. While finishing her Master’s degree in public health, she was looking forward to quiting her job and being a mother. In today’s world that tells women that the only way they can have it all is to have a career AND a family, my wife decided that the only way to have it all, was to raise her children and be an extraordinary wife to her husband. And many will read this and feel sorry for her, think she is missing out on something, but she’ll be first to tell you, that if she wasn’t doing what she is doing, she’d be missing out…that amazes me.
- She courageous. When I told her that I though it would be best to put my plans to the side for starting my own business because of our limited income and a baby on the way, she said, “I think you should do it…quit your job and give it a try.” Amazing.
- She prays in the shower. As a stay at home mom and wife of a husband that is running around trying to grow money on trees, she puts most of her worries down the drain each morning (assuming she gets the chance to take a shower on any given day) and prays during the only time that is truly hers. I see her faith in God grow and her dependence on His guidance become a daily essential. She is an example for me and her strength and faith amazes me.
- She’s always asleep on the couch by 8:45pm. No matter how stressful or busy our day has been, no matter how “crazy”the Meester has been, or how fussy E has been, how little business I have brought in that day, or whether we are on the same page about things in general, she let’s it all go and sleeps soundly…even though I am thinking she just exhausted from being married to me…and that’s the most amazing thing of all…she’s still my wife.