Load shift

At this point my lovely wife is the one who does all the work, or who by default does it, unless I help out. I remember when I started this blog, that I made an effort to get the (at that time) "baby" girl used to having me put her to bed at night, instead of my lovely wife having to do it all the time. Things have changed. I'm now too clumsy and weak, and often too tired, to be much use, or to be safe. I worry that I might fall over and crush one of the kids. There have been times when I came close. I remember this one time, on all fours in the dark, I started tipping to the left, on my weak arm, and would have smashed my daughter. Instead, I let the left arm go limp and I landed with a thud on the soft carpet rather than crushing her.

Anyway, the point is that I'm not able to do kid work in a way that can be relied on. I can still clear the table and load the dishwasher. I do this while my lovely wife is upstairs doing ALL the kid work: baths, pajamas, temper management, stories, tooth brushing, and getting them in bed. I come up at the very end and kiss them and say goodnight. Then my lovely wife sings to them.

True, on some nights I do contribute, by persuading one of them, usually my son, to do the items on his routine. And while that's helpful when it happens, the default is always my lovely wife.

And when it comes to daytime excursions, she does almost all of that too. I can still drop off or pick up a kid at school, or take one of them on a brief trip to the store, but most activities such as the park require too much extended walking, bending, and moving for me.

And while I always without fail made breakfast every day, there have been many times where I got up and moving too late, and she's cooked it instead. Plus, I am no longer sole king of the laundry. She's been doing most of that, and folding it too.

What do I do? I stay in bed, take long showers, and slowly get dressed. During the day when they're out at school, or out on an excursion, I usually play chess or play computer games. Or write stuff, or read stuff on the internet. Or pick up pills or deal with medical issues. I still do a fair amount of shopping, but usually solo.

My lovely wife and I seem to enjoy each others' company, and have been giggly and chummy as the nights get colder. I love her , and I was saying to a friend the other day that time has proven, more than I could have imagined, what a good match this is.

I want to thank my lovely wife for her kindness, strength, and most of all, sense of humor.