Over the weekend, thanks to the Mother's Day gift I gave my wife, my hair started turning white. No, I'm not kidding. I don't think wives realize just the amount of pressure we husbands are under at this very important holiday.
Granted, the white in my hair, as it turns out, is primer...since I spent most of the weekend inside an eight foot by foot bathroom painting. After living in this house for 8 years, we finally got around to painting the guest bathroom from stark white to a lovely Ralph Lauren color called "hopsack". Imagine those potato sacks that you hop around in for sack races, and that's the color. My wife preferred to call it something more appealing, like "cappuccino".
This means I have one room left in the house to paint, and we will have tackled every room in the house. That would be the kitchen, which sorely needs it, but will be a taping nightmare.
Mother's Day was interesting this year. Usually, we head off as a family to one of the zoos within a few hours of our home. Last year, we went to this beautiful zoo in Grand Rapids. This year, however, my wife wasn't in the zoo mood. Even if she had been, we've had nothing but rain and gloom for a solid week now, with no end in sight.
What she wanted (besides the bathroom painted) was a good nap. Kids must be silent. And then Jet's Pizza. I don't know if there are Jet's Pizza places around where you live, but it is a strictly carry-out/delivery place much like Little Caesars...except that their pizza is orders of magnitude better. So, that's what she got.
Oh yeah...that at a new Dustbuster and a sweeper. Not exactly the typical "thank you for being a mother to my children" type gift, but she asked for a new sweeper, since our old one is pretty useless now. No, seriously. She asked for it. She told me, "You know what I want for Mother's Day? A new sweeper!" The Dustbuster I threw in because our old one had lost the little piece inside that keeps the junk inside when you hang it up, which meant everything you vacuumed up ended up all over the counter top.
One might think that I just don't appreciate my wife after a Mother's Day like that...giving cleaning products and all. But I do. In so many more ways than even my wife could comprehend. (Especially coming off the "Single Dad" weekend I blogged about last week!)
Anyone who dedicates their life to the raising of children as my wife has done deserves far more than one day a year to be celebrated. There is no job more important than motherhood. So, to all you who are mothers...I salute you! But most of all, I salute my wife! I love you, honey!
