I love having Doug around. I really would be "ok" with him being home all the time...heh...of course we wouldn't have food to eat or money for rent...hmm...too bad you can't live on love. I've heard women talk about how irritated they get when their husbands are home too many days in a row, but I don't really understand. Don't get me wrong, sometimes Doug is gone for the evening and a teeny tiny part of me enjoys that I don't have to cook. The girls and I are HAPPY to eat peanut butter and jelly, in particularly me, since it's my favorite thing in the world. When Doug isn't home, we eat sandwiches and fruit for dinner..or perhaps just chips or something...(yikes!) Doug likes a good hot meal on nights he is home. Ok, back to the point of my post...
When I met Doug he was working about 13 hour days and many weekends. This became a big problem for me when we got married. At some point, it was cut back to about 10 hours and occasional weekends. Before we left Florida, he was working 8 hour days and never on the weekends....yes, this might sound nice, but the thing that was retarded was he was salary so back in the day when he was working 13 hour days, he was making the same as when we ended that job and he was there 8 hours a day....
Ok, now we are in Maryland...not only is he doing a job he loves and that he is MADE for, he is home SOOOO much more. We all eat together every morning and he's home in time to watch the girls while I make dinner. He has 2 days off a week and Sundays he just works during church hours...needless to say, we are together a lot as a family. It's such an amazing blessing. This might not last forever. Perhaps his job will become more involved or perhaps he'll have to get a second job if the economy keeps going down...or perhaps he'll change jobs entirely and life as we know it now will change. For now, we are enjoying what we have and we find ourselves thanking God weekly for it. We would choose family time and unity and peace in our home over the big bucks ANY day. I mean, if he could make a ton of money working a 35 hour week..fine, we would happily receive (ha!) but from what we've observed...the people making the big bucks are working considerably more than that and they are taking their work home with them and seem very distracted most of the time. This post is in defense of the comments I have gotten about his lack of drive, etc. The way I see it, Doug DOES know what he wants, and he's ran after it hard..and it's got eternal rewards.
The truth is, I don't know a more hard working father/husband than Doug. He's by far the most hands on father I've ever seen or heard of. Not to say there aren't others like him, I just don't know of them. There are many times when I think that he knows more about the girls than I do. Yet, he still feels like he doesn't do enough or that he's not a good enough dad, etc. It blows me away. Perhaps it makes ME lazy or unmotivated...I want to be like Doug when I grow up...
3 comments:
This is awesome Lisa!! I too, would LOVE for Stan to be home all the time -- I find many women are not like that at all. (Except for when I don't have to cook, but I like for that to be the exception, not the rule!!) :)
You are right, the big bucks come with a BIG price....we have been there -- and I am sooo thankful that Stan realized before our kids were grown that it is NOT worth it!! We are actually working on book called "In Pursuit of the Lie" -- he really wants people to know that the "American Dream" of owning the sports car and huge house comes with too many sacrifices if you want to have a great marriage and raise godly kids!! I thank God every day that he realized that he was not willing to sacrifice us for the "dream."
So happy for you guys! Enjoy Doug being home!! We are praying so hard right now for a job like that!!
That really is a blessing, Lisa, and I'm so glad you guys are enjoying it. When we owned our two Subway stores, Mike had a lot more time off. He would often come home at 4 pm and we would go to the park, or pool and hang out with Holly.
But now, we are in a totally different situation. It's hard, because Mike accepted his job based on being told his salary would be one thing, and then once he started the job, it ended up being almost half that. But life has its seasons and I am not angry, just thankful that Mike has a job he loves, even if it means he is away from home a lot more than he used to be.
But I am really glad for you guys to not have to be living that life! :)
Kristen...I remember you telling me that story and I'll be adding you and Mike (and you too Shelby!) to my prayer list when praying for friends and their job situations...I know you guys have struggled with the change but you have a really great attitude about it! Thanks for commenting...!
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