I've been working from home the last two days, and just being with my husband and my daughter makes me happy. My girl is off for spring break and my husband took this week off work so he could go to the church every day to get the lay of the land as warden since our minister is leaving. My husband wants to be ready to help foster a smooth transition, and also wants to know just what the minister's every day demands are, so he can be better informed about what kind of person they are looking for to fill this man's very large shoes. My man has been incredibly lighthearted in this work, lending his shoulder to unloading cartons of food for the food pantry, writing up referrals for social services, attending a conference on helping parollees reintegrate successfully into life outside of prison walls, sorting and boxing donated clothes, handing out mail to the many people whose transient circumstances cause them to need to use the church as a permanent address. This man's soul is lifted by the opportunity to be of service.
His good mood wasn't even rocked when he brought home a new flat screen TV to replace our old behemoth with its fading colors last night, and I didn't like the picture quality of the brand new model. My daughter was shooting me meaningful looks, and finally she took me aside and whispered, "Mom, Dad went out of his way to surprise you. Be considerate." But you know, you have to live with a TV for a long time, and we have only one in our house, and this screen was unwatchable to me and couldn't be adjusted as far as we could tell. But my husband didn't get bent out of shape, or worse, withdraw into the cave. He just said exasperatedly, "Good Lord, I'll take it back tomorrow!" But then he looked at me sideways and said, "Happy now?" And I saw he was okay. Not at all bruised by my ungraciousness, which wasn't really ungraciousness because I loved that he wanted to surprise us, I love him, but I had to be honest, was all.
Maybe the ministry was his calling after all. I remember him telling me that when he was 11, he had announced to his parents that he wanted to be a minister. In time, he went another way, following his love of the ocean into a life as an ichthyoloist. But I can see that his work with the little activist church for which he is the warden fulfills him greatly, and believe me when I tell you that a contented husband is a wonderful cohort indeed.
Well, I'm not one for religion but I'll give you a big amen on the happy husband thing.
ReplyDeletems. moon, i'm not particularly churchy myself, but being of service to a community is another thing. my man likes to serve. i like that. thanks for the amen! and hugs to those sweet grandbabies of yours!
ReplyDeleteI'll take that big t.v.
ReplyDeleteAnd your guys sounds alright too!
m.
Oh Angella, I just love your husband. Please give him a big hug from your bloggy sister, okay?
ReplyDeleteBy the way, these days the cables you use to hook up a tv to a dvr/dvd/blu-ray/etc are absolutely a big deal, it's not like it used to be where any old cable that fit would work. You have to get exactly the right kind of HD cable, or the picture quality will suffer greatly. Might want to investigate that possibility before returning the brand new tv.
I love this. All of it. My daughters have been known to reprimand me in the name of their father;) As a matter of fact, the other day I mentioned to Mark that I sometimes wish that we had a son so that I also had someone who could see me through those kinds of eyes.
ReplyDeleteI hope you end up with a wonderful new TV!
Hugs.
I had to laugh at how disgruntled you were over the new television. I recently watched tv at someone's house -- a big, fancy flat-screen -- and I HATED what everything looked like!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you've a happy husband, though. So glad.