SOS

He likes His kids. I like my kids. However, as a full time homemaker with a husband who has two jobs, I had approximately 90% more face to face time with our children than He did. It goes with out saying (although obviously I am going to say it), that all that quality time I spent with the kids left me frazzled sometimes. At the time I felt that I was part of the sisterhood of single mothers. I put the kids to bed alone, got them up alone, went to their activities alone, wrestled with bath time alone, wrestled with illness alone, and so much more. Often I commiserated with the tales of woe from single mothers I knew. In hind sight, I realize that they must have been thinking I was cracked. Because in reality I was not alone. I knew that despite His physical absence I had His support. In many ways. I knew that I was not alone. I knew that I had a back-up.

I joke that its good I didn't have a cell phone when our kids were little, or He would have been inundated with sos messages all day long (its so easy to text your frustration-it offers a kind of release). Needless to say, the lack of instant messaging allowed my frustrations to build up on significantly stressful days. There were days (to my credit not many), when He walked in the door, was handed a child, and then watch me walk out the same door He had just come in. He didn't complain. He probably felt a little guilty that He wasn't there more. However, His reactions to my pleas for relief are only 10% of the story.

Usually when He got home from work He would immediately offer Himself as the children's distraction. (Of course this is after He changed His clothes, or washed His hands, or whatever He needed to do.) Looking back, I now see that I didn't even know if He had had a bad day, was tired, worried, stressed, or dealing with a myriad of other personal issues. He got down on the floor and let the kids climb on Him. He took them outside and kept them busy. He entertained them while I had a "moment". Its not that I don't think parenting should be equal, but I doubt it rarely is. Given a little perspective I realize that He may have anticipated that coming home from work would be a refuge, a place of rest for the weary, and a balm for the soul. But often what he found was a stopped up disposal and a broken sprinkler head. He could also smell the faint fumes of maternal exasperation and frustration. Did He know I was counting down the minutes to when I could hear His car door shut anticipating His answer to my sos?

He rescued...

...one more reason I love Him.