I Needed My Husband When…

I’d like to think that I am pretty independent. I mean, this is the girl who never wanted to get married. I wanted to run off to Africa for the rest of my life doing medical missions.

But it’s nothing like a 6 month deployment to really put things into perspective.

We all need a little help sometimes, though we don’t always like to admit it. But to make you feel a little better, here are my list of times during the last 6 months, that I really needed my husband.

1.When the Pipes Froze

Becoming homeowners for the first time didn’t seem like a bad idea. We got a great deal on a beautiful house that really was a dream. Tucked away in the woods and very private, it was exactly what we wished for. But what we didn’t really think through is that I, though talented in many other areas of life, have no handy-man skills whatsoever. Mind you, I am willing to learn, but coming into this, I couldn’t tell you what a monkey wrench was. (I am not proud of myself right now.)
So it seemed only natural that the military would look out for us and send Peter off on a deployment only weeks after moving into the house.
Then winter hit.
Everyone said it never snowed here. They assured me that winters were mild. So of course, our first snow was 17″ in a 12 hour period.
I am from New York, so snow doesn’t scare me. But let me tell you that even by New York standards, this was a lot of snow.
Of course with snow comes low temperatures, which my house decided to interpret as, “Let’s freeze all the pipes!”
I’m not lying.
I freaked out a tad.
I had visions of pipes bursting and total loss.
I ran around that Sunday morning, trying to figure out what my next move was.
My mom, having it in good with a cute plumber, was the first person I called.
Between the blubbering and hyperventilating, she was able to distinguish the words, “frozen pipes.”
In the end, everything worked out. But if my husband was here, he would have totally calmed me down, went into the crawl space to fix the issue, and threw some snowballs around with the kids all in 15 seconds.

2. That Time Mickey Came for a Visit

(My two useless cats…)

So there I was, in my kitchen on the bright, sunny morning. I had risen early, gotten dressed, and was even having a great hair day. I tip toed down the stairs so I wouldn’t wake the kids, and decided to make biscuits for breakfast. Anything hot at breakfast besides toast or a frozen waffle is a magical and special event in this house. So basically, I was killing this mom life.
I obviously needed some humility, because suddenly, a dash of ick ran past me and I looked around the corner. It ran past me again and I thought, maybe, just maybe it’s all a bad dream. I mean, come on! I had biscuits in the oven, for goodness sake! The third pass freed me of all doubts. It was a mouse. And to top it all off, my fat, lazy, good-for-nothing cat was laying there…LAYING THERE!!!.. watching the mouse run under my piano.
Logically I screamed, woke the kids, burned the biscuits, and never caught the little thing. He ended up running into my fireplace and escaping.
Of course if my husband was here, he would have had it eating out of his hands and we would now have a pet mouse. (So maybe it’s not all bad he was gone…)

3. When the Van Broke

Peter would never lie. He would flat-out tell you that he knows very little about cars. But Peter’s “very little” is my “You are a genius!”
So the day my van wouldn’t start and I thought I was soooo cool for hooking up the other car and jumping the battery, well, it was for nought. Don’t tell anyone, but I think I didn’t even jump it right, because once the tow truck came, brought it to the dealership, and I get a call that my battery was dead, I am pretty sure I felt like a heel. $80 down the drain for towing, but a great lesson learned. All humans that drive vehicles should at least know how to check the oil, pump the gas, change a tire, and jump a battery.  I have two out of four.

4. Every Single Grocery Shopping Day

(Picture misleading. My fridge never looks like this…)

(My definition of “pre-gaming” when it comes to grocery shopping…caffeine!)

I would like to think I am thrifty and frugal. I mean, I go to THREE grocery stores every week to get the best deal on food and goods. This, however, means that grocery shopping takes a minimum of two hours and a maximum of a lifetime. (Am I the only one that feels that if I am not cooking or feeding them food, I am buying it??)
It’s like a prison sentence to my kids every Tuesday. As they watch me load the van up with bags and a cooler, the moaning begins. No matter how many times I threaten them with not eating for the week, (this doesn’t work, by the way) they just keep grumbling.
By the time we hit Sam’s club, the ten-year-old is flopped over the cart making this low, whimpering kind of noise, while the six-year-old is chewing on her shirt, despite the fact that I just fed her a snack.

5. Shopping for Unmentionables

(I may take them shopping like this next time.  Gets attention off of all the half-naked women of the walls. )

Speaking of shopping, bra shopping is a blast with the kids! Really, you should try it! There is giggling, staring, pointing, and way too many questions for me to answer. They come like gun fire and I get blindsided by the really weird ones like, “Mama, why would a man need to shop for underwear here?” Or, “Mama,  where is the rest of THAT pair of underwear?!”
OK, to be fair, a friend had offered to watch the kids the very next day so I could get some new bras. But the store that I wanted to go to was a little out-of-the-way, and that day I was right there next to it. So I dragged them in. I looked at it as a preparation for their future. Every mom needs at least 2-3 awkward shopping experiences with their kids, and during this deployment, I nailed it.

6. My Ugly Days

(Proof that makeup saves lives. These were taken when Clara said I “looked like death”.)

You can preach all you want that you should need no one else to make you feel beautiful. Beauty comes from within and you should feel great all the time with who God made you. And though I say this to my girls all the time, there are days when exhaustion, hormones, and clothing that shrunk in the wash (or that is what I am assuming happened) just get you down. Sure, my girlfriends are always there to boost me up and help remind me about “all my great features.” But sometimes that doesn’t mean anything compared to your husband grabbing hold of you and planting a big, wet kiss smack dab on your lips. No words need to be spoken. It’s obvious what he thinks about how you look and what his mind is on.  😉

So there you have it.

This list, though small, just gives you a taste of my weak spots and blemishes. But to me, it just goes to show how much we balance one another out. He is good at somethings, while I sit there and smile. I’m good at somethings, like keeping the kids alive for six months, while he sits there and smiles.
Marriage is the best.