Smiling Mom

Dear Hubby,

“If I make a pro­mise, I keep my pro­mise.” Those are some of the early words I vividly remem­ber you saying to me. And you know what? You truly live these words every day. If you make a com­mit­ment to be somewhere at 5:00 p.m., you show up at exactly 5:00. You com­mit­ted to your­self long ago that volun­tee­ring your time was impor­tant. So you become a board mem­ber to a non-profit foun­da­tion who sole job is to help chil­dren batt­ling cancer.

You pro­mi­sed to love me, and you do.

But what makes my heart skip a beat is your level of com­mit­ment to our chil­dren. For the past three years you have taken an active role in paren­ting BC and eClaire as we fina­gled our work sche­du­les around to ensure one of us was at home to raise our chil­dren at all times . This was impor­tant to me, and you res­pec­ted it.

Our rela­tionship suf­fe­red, tem­po­ra­rily, as we pas­sed through the night barely seeing each other for days and some­ti­mes weeks on end. But our kids had you. And for that I am eter­nally grateful.

BC mimics your beha­vior, from the way you stand with your arms cros­sed to the way you wake eClaire up from her nap. “Well, hewo there beau­ti­ful!” He looks up to you with admi­ra­tion and pride. The other night when BC woke up hys­te­ri­cally crying, he wan­ted you. You were the com­for­ting hands that soothed him back to sleep.

Part of my heart broke as I han­ded BC over. My job of pro­tec­tor and soother had been pas­sed on. And even though I shed tears for my loss, I was so very proud that you were the one our son wanted.

This moment is a tes­ta­ment of the man you are to our chil­dren. You are someone that will sooth and com­fort in a time of need and cri­sis. You are a man who our kids are not afraid to be vul­ne­ra­ble in front of. You are a man who will pro­tect them and love them unconditionally.

And I am proud.

You always say that you were the lucky one. But truth be told, I have no idea how I was so lucky.

How was it that you were willing to wait around for me to figure out that on top of being my best friend, you were also the man I loved with my whole heart?

I am the lucky one.

Our kids will never know a life without you in it. They won’t know the hurt of having a split family.

I am the lucky one. We are the lucky ones.

Happy Father’s Day.

Love,

Me