The other day, someone emailed me this terrific story. I feel compelled to share as the reverse scenario actually, unbelievably, happened to me after I left the family for a week when attending a conference. First, here is the emailed story for a laugh:
A man came home from work and found his three children outside, still In their pajamas, playing in the mud, with empty food boxes and wrappers strewn all around the front yard.
The door of his wife's car was open, as was the front door to the house and there was no sign of the dog. Proceeding into the entry, he found an even bigger mess. A lamp had been knocked over, and the throw rug was wadded against one wall. In the front room the TV was loudly blaring a cartoon channel, and the family room was strewn with toys and various items of clothing.
In the kitchen, dishes filled the sink, breakfast food was spilled on the counter, the fridge door was open wide, dog food was spilled on the floor, a broken glass lay under the table, and a small pile of sand was spread by the back door.
He quickly headed up the stairs, stepping over toys and more piles of clothes, looking for his wife. He was worried
she might be ill, or that something serious had happened.
He was met with a small trickle of water as it made its way out the bathroom door. As he peered inside he found wet towels, scummy soap and more toys strewn over the floor. Miles of toilet paper lay in a heap and toothpaste had been smeared over the mirror and walls.
As he rushed to the bedroom, he found his wife still curled up in the bed in her pajamas, reading a novel. She looked up at him, smiled, and asked how his day went. He looked at her bewildered and asked, "What Happened here today?"
She again smiled and answered, "You know every day when you come home from work and you ask me what in the world I do all Day?"
"Yes," was his incredulous reply.
She answered, "Well, today I didn't do it."
***
I had to email my husband this story after what happened to us. I return from a week-long business trip and the house is an absolute mess. Not only did our son rarely have baths, or brush his teeth, there was no food in the house--at all. All the laundry was piled up and you could write your name in the amount of dust on our living room table. In short, it was absolutely disgusting and I was over-whelmed with the amount of work I'd have to do just to live in the house and prepare for the coming week.
After completely laying into my husband about his lack of consideration, etc. He then explains, with tears in his eyes, that he took our son to four playdates and three birthday parties, remembered his school picture day, library day, and PE uniforms for PE days and taught him how to ride his bike without training wheels. In short, he spent more time with his son in that short week than he had all year and came home early from work each night and fed him dinner and logged back on his computer after night-night time and worked until mid-night. I smiled and said, "Welcome to my world." And then thanked him profusely for all that he did. You know what is the best part about my little excursion away from the family?
- He completely understands how hectic my day is and what little "other" things get accomplished around the house.
- He misses his son now that he's back to the grind and can't come home early to oversee playdates.
Right now, life is pretty good. I *highly* recommend short trips away!
