I was thinking about marriage and parenting while driving home from dropping Riley off at work.
I guess technically my thought began a few weeks ago in Nursery. One of the little ones was desperately in need of a diaper change and his mom was in teaching a Sunday School lesson, so one of the other leaders went in to get the little boy's father. She tapped him on the shoulder and whispered that his son needed a change. He didn't even turn his head to look at her, but stuck out his index finger as if to say "You can wait." She stood for a moment and then realizing that he wasn't going to come right now, she came back to the classroom. A few minutes later this man came storming into the Nursery and said "Why did you come get me? His mother does these things!!" and shook the diaper and wipes at us. At first I thought he must be kidding. But then I realized, this man was 100% serious. He was so upset that we had interrupted him sitting in on a lesson to change his baby's diaper. My first reaction was to be angry back. Who did this guy think he was? And since when is changing diapers beneath anyone? Let alone a parent? Then I felt sadness for his wife. I know how hard it is to be a stay at home mom to just one child, I can only imagine the challenge of having several children in the home. And with this guy as your "partner". She must work so hard, and get no appreciation. Finally, a deep feeling of gratitude for my own husband set in. Now, I dont tell this little story to talk down on this gentleman, though believe me, I have plenty to say. Perhaps he was just having a hard day. Or maybe he usually changes ALL the diapers and Sundays are his day off. In any case, I just felt so thankful to have Riley.
You see, Mason woke up at 6:00 this morning. A full two and a half hours earlier than he usually does. We had had a fairly good night considering the fact that he is teething right now, but I was still dead tired. Riley has to wake up for work at 5:30 on weekdays, and at 7:30 on the weekends he is scheduled for duty. This weekend happened to be one of them, so today would have been his only day to "sleep in" all week. Instead however, Riley patted my shoulder and motioned for me to hand Mason off to him. I turned to go back to sleep, and Riley rocked Mason and tried to keep him quiet long enough for me to get a little extra shut eye. Now mind you, an extra hour may not seem like much. But to a man who gets up before the sun, that extra hour could have been a game changer, and instead he gave it to me.
Maybe that's what marriage, and parenting, really is. And Riley may just be an expert at both! He knows I do my very best with Mason every day, and I know Riley goes to work at a ridiculous hour to provide for our little family, then comes home and does his best to give me a break every day. But some days, even when we try our hardest, the fatigue gets to be a bit overwhelming. Certainly more often for me than for my sweet husband. But perhaps marriage is simply trying your best, understanding your partner is doing the same, and being willing to step in when the other seems to fall just a little bit short.
I think Ill make that my New Year's Resolution... I dont usually make them. But Im going to put forth a bit more effort to try my hardest, recognize and appreciate Riley's efforts (verbally, I truly do always appreciate them), and do what I can to make life a little easier for him.
And that is all I have to say about that.
And since blog posts are boring without a picture, here is Mason getting ready to crawl. At four and a half months old. With a tooth. What is happening?!
