Tonight my wife -- amazingly! -- pulled off another great dinner, fed the missionaries, sang in ward choir practice, tucked (and lullabied) our four young children to sleep...and baked home-made bread ('cuz we're out, since we're living off our food supply now...currently on a self-imposed "embargo" of all things purchased, just to see how well we'd do if we had to "do without").
What's not to love about this beautiful, talented, virtuous woman? As I sometimes remind her: "You are competent and sexy!" Intelligence, competence and confidence are the sexiest of attributes. My wife is all three!
Suzanne Venker points out that being a mother of youngins is not all it's cracked up to be -- and that should be acknowledged:
I think a lot about the mothers carting babies and toddlers around. I see them everywhere: Target, the grocery store, the gym, the parks, everywhere. When I walk past them I feel an immediate stab of guilt. After all, I know what their lives are like – and it looks nothing like my new life. I know they're happy to be home and have momentary pleasures that defy description but at the same time are emotionally drained. I know this because now that I've passed their stage of motherhood, I see clearly how bad things were for a very long time. Today I sleep; then I didn't. Today I have silence; then I didn't. Today I can shop alone; then I couldn't. Today I eat what I want for lunch; then I ate what my kids were eating. Today I can finish a conversation on the telephone; then I couldn't. Today I can hear what newscasters are saying on the television; then I couldn't. Today when we travel or eat out as a family, it's a pleasure; then it wasn't. Today I like sex; then I didn't. Indeed, the difference between the first stage of motherhood and being a mother of school-age children cannot be overestimated.
When I contemplated Andrea -- long before I imagined marrying her -- I prayed about her. I prayed for her. I poured out my soul. And I asked God to bless her with a long life, a good husband, and a home filled with loving, happy, faithful children.
I hardly imagined that my blessing for her would become mine as well.
That was very sweet of you! You know what's funny? As I was reading this, Ani crawled up on the desk, found two pencils and starting writing on the computer screen. I ripped the pencil away from her, then turned to Abi who was asking me a homework question. Ariel started crying just then that she couldn't find her music as Daniel made his second trip around the kitchen apparantly practicing for a race. As I turned back to Ani, I saw she had reached for her second pencil and started writing on the screen AGAIN! I screamed "WILL IT NEVER END?!" Then Abi laughed at me and said "Oh, mom, you'll forget about this all by tomorrow." At that moment, everything was wonderful. That's what being a mother is all about. Thank you honey for making me one five times over =)
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