I am blessed to have been surrounded by many hardworking men in my life. I cannot think of growing up without thinking of my Dad and what a hard worker he was. He never lived a day of his life when I knew him that he didn't work hard on something. He loved to be outdoors and when he wasn't working a job, usually worked around the house or on some project on our property. He taught me the importance of a clean bedroom growing up. I remember one morning he went past my room and noticed I had cleaned it up and told me he was glad it was so nice. And we talked about how you can feel the spirit when you are in a clean home. It's funny, because Rett is sometimes irritated by my obsessive cleanliness. I wasn't always clean. And I seem to remember some crazy childhood memory of my Dad throwing my mattress off a balcony outside because my sister and I wouldn't keep our bed made. Maybe the combination of those two very different experiences helped create a habit of cleanliness in my life. At any rate, I have probably matured into a more balanced type of clean freak. I will admit that one of the most irritating things when Rett and I first got married, and something I actually started arguments about, which is super ridiculous, is where he put the ketchup away in the fridge. Now, I am so grateful for him helping clean up after dinner, that I don't even care where it goes. So, I've learned to relax a little about things that don't actually matter. I've learned to accept the fact that the house won't always be perfect. I've learned that sometimes family time is just more important than the house cleaning. I have learned that I'm a happier person though, if I exercise and stay on top of my house work. So a balance between those things is what makes life around our house run smoothest. But I am grateful to my Dad for helping me learn to take care of your home and property and make it nice so that you are more able to feel the spirit in your life.
Part of what started me thinking about this is Rett. He is a lineman. He works hard. Some days it is physically exhausting for him to go to work. But he rarely complains. And he works his tail off so that I can be home with our boys. This week, he worked a regular 8 hours on Monday and Tuesday. He came home after work on Tuesday, worked on his school work, had dinner with the family, and then went to Young Mens at 7pm. He didn't get home from that until 9:30ish and we went to bed around 10pm. Then, he responded to a phone call about a power outage at 1:30am, and worked from then until his shift ended that evening. He again, came home, had dinner, did chores, and went to bed a little early that night to catch up on sleep. Only, he got called out at 10pm Wednesday night. Again, worked through the night and all the next day. Thursday night, he went to sleep early, and gratefully, got a full nights sleep, only to wake up Friday morning and head back to work. We're grateful it's Friday, so that we can spend some time with him this weekend. But through all of this, he remains patient with the boys when he gets home from work, spends some time with them playing and talking before he goes to bed, and never makes us feel bad that he's putting in so much time and effort at work, while we are at home. I do feel really guilty sometimes that I am home playing with the boys or sleeping at night, while he is working. But it's never because he makes me feel guilty. I have had to let go of a lot of anxiety when he's at work, because it's not the most safe job in the world.
The school work thing that I mentioned, is Rett's MBA. He and I both finished our Bachelor's degrees before we had the boys. It was so much easier then! If we were doing homework, we could sit together and study. Now, he gets home from work and the boys just want to play with him. We're glad he's only taking a six week course at a time. And he's spreading it out over five years, so only two classes a year. The sacrifice for us is hard for six weeks at a time, but it actually goes by quickly. And I'm hoping this will eventually mean he won't have to work so hard physically at some point in time. I do not think there is anything wrong with physical labor. I actually really respect men who do those types of jobs. It is hard work. You have to deal with the freezing cold weather, snow, rain, and ice during the winter, and then the extreme heat of summer. But since it is so hard, I appreciate the fact that Rett may be able to use his mind more than his body at some point in his career.
The other thing about Rett that I love, but sometimes dread, is how hard he works around the house. Last summer, we put in so many hours working on our yard. It was crazy. The man would come home from working outside all day, then we would hit the yard work until dark. Sometimes I would hope the boys would need some help with something in the house so that I could have a break. I feel like I can be a hard worker, and keep up with him for the most part, but sometimes he just goes and goes and I am just not as tough as he is. On weekends, he cannot stand to just sit around the house. He has to have a project to work on.
If he's not working for a job, working around the house, or working on school work, it's a pretty good bet he's doing something with the dogs. Either out training with them, or studying about training them. I am sure he thinks I hate the whole dog thing. I actually don't. And I actually love that he is so passionate about it. It makes him happy, and I feel like he deserves something to make him happy since he's such a hard worker. I just wish he had a little bit of laziness so that I don't feel so bad about myself :)
Anyway, I could go on and on of examples of hard workers in my life. But these two men have probably been the closest examples of hard work to me. I am so grateful for them. And as a mother of two little boys, I hope and pray that Crew and Drake will follow the examples of their father, grandfathers, uncles, and other wonderful male examples of hard work.
The boys have looked at pictures of Grandpa Sam lately, and asked questions. I think mostly because he wears a cowboy hat in a lot of the pictures. But this week, we've talked about him more than normal. My boys often mention when people are dead that they will come back alive when they are resurrected. So, they mentioned this one day about Grandpa Sam. I agreed, that he would and that they would get to meet him. They asked questions about him, and we talked about how much they would like him and how much he loves them.
Sometimes I get sad to think that Rett and my boys have never had the pleasure of knowing this great part of my life. And then I get grateful for the gospel and that they will have the chance one day. I know my Dad and Rett would have gotten along well. I know my boys would have loved Grandpa Sam. I also know that there is a plan larger than this life on earth. And I am grateful to know that one day, we will all be together again.
I am grateful for Rett and his hard work. I want him to know how much I appreciate his sacrifices for me. And I want him to know that I love him. I hope one day, our boys can look back at growing up and have as many fond memories of their Daddy working hard as I do of mine.
