My husband says I don’t thank him enough. He’s absolutely right! On a day-to-day basis I often fail to tell him how thankful I am to be his wife.
We’ve known each other for nearly nineteen years and I am often amazed at how well we’ve continued to grow together. When you are young you don’t think about how organized your spouse might be or how well they handle money. At least I didn’t. At the time these things didn’t seem important.
Nineteen years later I believe compatibility is the key to a strong marriage. If you want an organized home you will be frustrated by a messy one. If you want a safety cushion in the bank you will be upset when your spouse spends wildly.
While my husband and I are different in many ways we are quite similar in others. We prefer staying home to going out, order to chaos and cleanliness to filth; neither of us are the type of people to leave dirty dishes in the sink after dinner. We also don’t follow typical male/females roles. I can manage the finances, apply and organize the paperwork for refinancing our home and put together full sets of IKEA furniture. He can wash the laundry, mop the floor and cook dinner.
There are many reasons our marriage has succeeded so far, but one of the main reasons is that we choose to remain together. The truth is we would both be okay on our own, (we don’t need to rely on one another), but life is simply better together.
Here’s a short list of reasons I love my husband.
- He’s honest.
- He’s intelligent.
- He cries at sappy commercials that involve young children and their parents. (This didn’t begin until after our son was born.)
- He works extremely hard at everything he does.
- He’s kind.
- He’s modest about his success.
- He’s thoughtful. While most people like to talk about themselves he always goes out of his way to ask questions and make others feel appreciated and important.
- He focuses, (for the most part), on the important things in life and tries his best to balance work and life.
- He participates in our son’s two to three hour bedtime routine.
- He values my job as a mother.
- He jumps right in to help with the dishes after dinner and the laundry before bed.
- He knows when I’m sad, disappointed, upset and angry even if I never say a word about feeling any of those things.
- He doesn’t make excuses.
- He compliments me on the food I prepare and never gets angry when I ask him to order carry out.
- He’s realistic.
- He remains calm when I am at my wits end.
- He is one of the most skilled and intelligent people I know. As long as he remains in good health he will always be able to find employment.
- He can fix almost anything.
- He enjoys the high rewards of delayed gratification.
- He’s dependable.
- He doesn’t mind getting dirty, stinky and/or smelling like chlorine, paint or glue.
- I trust his judgement.
- He coddles, wrestles, tickles and snuggles my son.
- Even when he’s tired he gives my son a bath each evening.
- He can think through alternatives and options and solve just about any problem.