Jenni lives in the DC metro area and is a stay-at-home mom to two boys under three. When she's not complaining about her husband, she tries to maintain the chaos regularly at Oscarelli.
I'm very excited to stand in for Kat today while she enjoys her husband, who's finally home after many months in Afghanistan. I hope I do not disappoint.
I have lots of complaints about my husband. That he walks past giant baskets full of clean clothes five times, but never takes the initiative to bring them upstairs, where all of our dressers live. That I have to ask him a minimum of three times to do something if I expect said task to be completed. That every time he does a load of laundry something of mine gets ruined. That he borrows my keys and never puts them back on the key hooks by the door. That he never puts our dishes (or anything else) away in the same place twice. That he will listen to the kids whine for a decade before he decides to DO something about it. That it takes him three times as long as it takes me to pick up the living room. He dresses our children like hobos. That he will eat a container of leftovers five minutes before dinner and then be too full to eat what I've spent an hour preparing. That his temper is too short with the kids. That he expects me to read his mind.
Like I said, I have lots of complaints.
My husband works out of the home full time. He travels for work, maybe one week out of every five, sometimes more. He'll be gone Sunday afternoon until Friday evening. In March he traveled three out of four weeks. In April, two out of four.
Holy shit was that hard. Because even though he walks past the laundry five times, that sixth time? He brings it up the stairs. And even if I can't find the ice cream scooper, at least HE put it away (somewhere.) And the leftovers pile up; I have to clean the living room by myself every night; there's no one to ask (three times) for help; the only one to deal with whining kids is me; I have to dress both boys every day; I do every stitch of laundry; MY temper is too short with the kids; I have no one to talk to; and I STILL can't find my keys.
Here's the truth.
He works hard all day long and when he comes home, he continues working hard. He plays with our boys and helps feed them dinner and gives them baths and helps put them to bed and takes out the garbage and recycling and, sometimes, he hauls the laundry up from the basement even when I forget to ask. He throws in the occasional load of laundry and, when I ask, he'll even put away the dishes.
I miss him terribly when he's gone, but it always reminds me that what he does do around here far outweighs what he does not do, or what he does differently.
And, having him gone only ten weeks out of the year as opposed to several months at a time? Yeah, I have a pretty sweet deal.
Enjoy these two weeks with the Man, Kat. I know how much you've missed him and how deliriously happy you are to have him back home where he belongs.
