Housewarming.

I’m sure that many women define themselves as whether or not they are mothers or wives or whatever.  My bride is just incredible at a lot of stuff.  And I probably don’t tell her I appreciate her nearly as much as she would like.  Since she occasionally ready my blog, she’ll see this, but I have a surprise or two coming up this weekend.  For the record, she despises hearing compliments, heartfelt as they are, second-hand.  So.

In the past 17 years, we have purchased 4 homes and rented 2 apartments.  As such, there have been a lot of boxes packed – multiple times.  And many sets of framed art and photos hung from various walls.  And many various trinkets and knickknacks throughout the houses.  She has a tasteful eye and is truly exceptional at decorating.  Our house is also our home.

During most of my engineering career, I traveled.  Sometimes, quite a lot.  I was fortunate to have worked for two incredible employers who did well, for the most part, with work/family balance.  As such, even when I was on extensive months of Monday through Friday travel, she was my rock.  My home.  And my home was warm because she was there.

I knew that, unlike many of my colleagues, I could confidently trust my bride to make decisions that I found agreeable, even without my having to be available to discuss things – there were some urgent needs that needed immediate response and sometimes she was on her own to consider my perspective.  This was in 2008.  So, after only 10 years of marriage, I trusted her with our home, our children, and our finances while I traveled over 50% of the year.  I know that year, particularly, wasn’t easy on her, but she nailed it.  A few times, I scheduled travel to be home for her, including a hard blow to her in the form of her father’s death.  The was grace with my employer and she left for Florida to take care of her mother during that time, leaving me to be home with the Princesses for several days.  My message to her was this, “Do what you need to do and be there for yourself and your mother.  We’ll be fine.”  And we were.

I have a wonderful partner.  A soulmate.  An amazing gift in my bride.  May I see every time she greets me at the door as a housewarming.