Thanksgiving blessings

Leaning back in my ergonomically correct office chair, I review the day’s work ahead of me and bemoaned the fact that I would prefer to be in bed and not sitting here trying to develop an idea for my weekly column. Meanwhile, back home, my now retired husband shoved his way into three layers of clothes, preparatory to climbing up a ladder and crawling around the roof of our ranch house, where he nailed down shingles, one at a time, all by himself. It didn’t at all look like fun, so I didn’t volunteer to help him on my day off.
He knows it isn’t any fun. “No one enjoys roofing, but it has to be done,” he said last week when our visiting son joined him for a couple days. Our home is kept together by a man who will go outside to do what has to be done while I stay inside away from the weather.
When we married he said he would do all the repair work. The few times we have actually had to pay for someone to do work around the house, I experienced a mild economic shock at how much it costs to do what seems like so little. I am enriched with a handyman who saves us money doing the piddling jobs that no one else wants to do.
Saturday evening, I collapsed into bed with the onset of a cold. While I stared at the ceiling, running up a temperature and not caring if I ever moved again, my husband sat at the dining room table with our Japanese exchange student folding dozens of origami decorations for the Christmas tree they will decorate at the South Arkansas Art Center. He first heard about having an exchange student come live with us the day after I agreed to meet her (and later the German student) at the airport. Since then he has gone to their parent-teacher conferences, attended their tennis matches, helped with their homework and taken them to the store, the clinic and to school. I am blessed with husband who steps in to meet family responsibilities while I go to work.
In order to do an origami Christmas tree for the South Arkansas Art Center’s Christmas Trees, we needed a bundle of origami paper to fold. My husband researched, priced and finally decided to go the route of the Internet auction site on E-bay. I also have purchased a few hard to find items on E-bay, but I have never had to worry about purchasing the money order or sending it in – my husband volunteers to take care of those details. My life is made easier because I have a personal errand runner.
We received an early Thanksgiving blessing this year when my son and his family of three bouncing children came to stay in the area for an extended visit. Although they are not staying with us, they have visited nearly every day. Add them to our household of two teenagers and we have a lot of fun, food and dirty floors. By the end of the first week, I needed a few hours with everyone gone so I could clean house my way. School friends invited the exchange students to the movies. The little folks went back to their bedroom to be tucked in for the night. Finally, I had the house to myself – except for my husband – and he wasn’t leaving. Without being asked, he began wiping down the kitchen. I grabbed a broom and swept. Together we tackled scrubbing the tile floor. Then we sat back and enjoyed a few minutes of a quiet and clean, albeit boring, house before everyone returned. I enjoy the luxury of a clean house thanks to a man who isn’t too proud to get down on his knees and clean a floor.
For these my many blessings, I thank you, Lord.