Thank you all so much for the birthday love and wishes yesterday, it was truly fabulous to read all of your comments! Dale is all puffed up with pride at your kind words about his post, too.
I have to admit that the things he wrote took me a little by surprise. Not the stuff about what we did over the weekend, that was a mere recap. But that stuff at the end . . . about how he appreciates me and recognizes how hard I worked . . . that got me pretty verklempt. And it’s true that I worked pretty hard after his accident. He was fairly helpless for a while and he was in pretty rough shape when he came home from the hospital. Frankly, it was exhausting to be his only caregiver during that time. I also know it was a privilege and I’m so glad to have done it and been able to show up for him in that way. I think we learned a lot about each other and, while it sure wasn’t always pretty, it deepened the level of respect we have for one another in a very meaningful way.
I do take exception to something he wrote though. It was that part about me being the one who holds our family together. He’s got that all wrong because he, my beloved husband, is our glue. He is the center of everything we do together. He’s the one who makes us all laugh, he’s the one who works to hard to take care of us, he’s the one to run an errand or pick up a kid or a loaf of bread. He never says no, he rarely complains, and he (unlike me) does it all with a cheerful heart and a smile on his face.
I suppose the bottom line is that we are well matched and we know it. Maybe it’s because we’d both been hurt before. Maybe it’s because we came to this relationship with open hearts and clear expectations. Or maybe it’s simply the hand of fate.
I’m not even sure it matters.
I’m just grateful for all of it.
