A Week Off

The big guy was off work last week and I liked having him home. When we lived in Texas some of my friends' husbands worked variable schedules, which meant their husbands were sometimes home with them during the day. I used to wonder how my girlfriends survived it.

When we were first married and Jared had time off during medical school, I used to go semi-nuts. Jared's words to me were always, "So what's the plan for today?" I'd reply with my plan and encourage him to create his own. I think my words were along the lines of, "I'm not the entertainment committee." Not very nice. I know.

Now I surprise myself every time he's off work and I actually enjoy it. I can't pinpoint the exact reason as to why it was hard for me ten years ago, but pleasant now. Maybe it's because we're more mature in our relationship now. Maybe we understand each other better and have more realistic expectations for each other. Maybe I've just grown up. Maybe it's because there is no need to entertain anymore...life is busier now and moments of boredom are only hoped for, rarely realized. Maybe I like him better than I did before. Who knows?

This past week we were productive and we spent some good time with each other. We worked on some of our food storage together, we took a nice little drive to Salt Lake to run a couple errands, and we took turns watching Meg so we could each run our own errands. Not a bad way to spend a week.

On the super fun side of things, Jared experienced a first during his week off. He actually created a TO DO LIST for himself. I tried to act nonchalant about it, when really I wanted to pass out on the hardwood floor. He voluntarily admitted that he's not a list person and I didn't disagree with him. But he gained quite a bit of satisfaction in crossing the items off one by one. Tonight he confessed that two of his list items didn't get accomplished, one of which was getting ME to make dental and eye appointments for me and the girls. He asked what it might take to get me to actually make those appointment since daily, persistent prodding didn't work. I told him I would put them on MY list this week. That way I'm fairly confident the appointments will get scheduled because I, unlike him, am a list person. Crossing stuff off is one of my all time, top ten favorite things to do.

My favorite thing Jared did during his week off? He took the girls on their first ski trips.

He took Brita on Monday and Wednesday afternoons after school, and he took Leah on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. The girls loved it and Jared was even surprised to experience some enjoyment in the activity himself. He had geared up to experience the opposite of joy while teaching two timid learners, but the girls caught on quicker than he had expected them to (most likely because he is an excellent teacher) and now skiing is something the girls are excited about! One of the HUGE benefits of living where we live. Leah liked skiing, but was mostly thrilled that the ski rental shop found her CTR ring.

Now Jared is excited to return to work, and even though I liked having him home it will be nice to see a reduction in the amount of pestering aimed at me to make those doctor's appointments. Happy work week to my list-making hubby.