A Week of Thanksgiving, Part I

Seeing that his wife was teetering on the brink of catastrophic insanity - pushed even closer by a weekend ER visit and a few days of a puking toddler who had the directional sense of a deaf bat in a paper bag - Himself decided celebrating our anniversary early was in order. He booked a hotel, decided on a place to eat, conned (er, persuaded) our sitter to keep both girls overnight (Pebbles is still not reliably sleeping through the night yet - though she does about 75% of the time) and lavished me with little gifts in true Himself fashion (should it be any surprise that his love language is "GIFTS" in all capital letters?!).

It was HEAVENLY. It would have been heavenly to sleep anywhere but my chronically neglected house, but Himself got a room at The Anniversary Inn - a quaint historic home-turned-hotel downtown with themed rooms. Ours was Egyptian themed - complete with cobra snake shower head, sphinxes and "stone" interior. It felt rather like sleeping inside a pyramid (not that I've ever done that). We had sushi. And sparkling cider. And we ate breakfast in bed. And told funny Woodstock stories.

Today, he surprised me with my early Christmas present ... the new Google phone, Droid. I've long had just the cheapest phone on the market because I've had a job that paid for a "cool" phone. However, now that I work for The Company the cool phone perk has gone. I hate my phone. I haven't liked it for the entire almost 2 years I've had it. But at my very core, I'm cheap. Himself isn't (today, it is a good thing, many days it is not). Of course, he was excited to give it to me because it's cool. I was excited to get it because now, effectively, I could do my ENTIRE JOB on my phone. Which makes me wonder why I need to even go into the office, but that's an entirely different story.

Back to Himself. Like all relationships, we have our moments. Sometimes more than others. Especially when one half of the relationship is chronically exhausted, on the brink of having a total anxiety meltdown and the sole food source for a constantly hungry baby and the "go to" person for a toddler who truly believe the entire universe is at her beck and call. There is sometimes weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth - real or imagined.

And yet ... Himself is still the person I run to with all of the latest news - glad, sad or otherwise. He is still my biggest champion in motherhood and my job. He is a wonderful dad to the girls and doesn't seem to mind that what once resided on my thighs migrated to my mid-section this past pregnancy or that said mid-section is covered in unsightly marks.

Best of all - he loves me enough to re-propose with the engagement ring I (er, Woodstock) lost 9 weeks ago during the new baby frenzy. Of course, we won't talk about putting your wife through 9 weeks of emotional torture and frenetic worry over the fact that she lost an irreplaceable ring. Nor will we discuss the irritation she's had about explaining to the masses that no, she did not in fact exchange her husband for a new baby even though she is sporting a naked finger. He found the ring, mere days after it went missing, had it cleaned, recoated, put in a jeweler's box and gave it to me last night.

Falling asleep with my ring back on my finger made me one of the happiest wives on the planet.

Waking up to sunshine, silence and Himself next to me did it all over again.

During this week of Thanksgiving, I'm grateful to have a partner, a lover, a friend and a father to my girls.