To my hubby

Dearest hubby,

It is Father's Day and I did not get you a gift. 

Not a tangible one anyways. 

While we are good at being thankful and appreciative in the moment of receiving gifts, they tend to be brought home, set down, and forgotten about until our next cleaning and purging spurt.  So, instead of something physical, I wanted to give you the gift of...  one less step, one less bump in the road, more time and ability to do the things you love.  At least that was the plan.  With too much to do, not enough hours in the day to do it, and children slowing the strict schedule I had laid out, your gift did not work out in real life as it did in my head.  Never does. 

The simple things like filling the gas can, making your favorite cookies,

whipping up cookie dough to keep in the freezer for your munchie attacks, and stocking the fridge full of Mountain Dew was easy.

 

But the real gift, the one that started formulating a week before, did not go as smoothly.  I'm referring to the garage.  Your garage.  The dream of having a working wood shop without the effort of having to go out and clean up kids stuff and garage sale stuff first.

(The Before)

(The Before)

I know it may not be much of a gift when you stepped in and did half the work but I knew my secret intentions were working when you started declaring "As much as it hurts, its time to start fresh." started flying out of your mouth.

(The First Middle)

(The First Middle)

 

I know that project items fly out my brain at an astronomical rate and I can work in any state of chaos as my life is chaos with the children around me at all times.  But you.  You like a little more organization, a little more access without digging for tools, prefer projects to go as smoothly as possible and in the current state that is the garage that is not going to happen.  Ever.  So maybe... no, wait.  There is no 'maybe'.  My intention of cleaning and purging the garage to the best of my ability without you seeing did not happen in any way shape or form.  But instead, maybe my gift morphed into you finding motivation to get your garage just right.  It has been over 10 years afterall.   

 

(The Second Middle)

(The Second Middle)

 

 So I guess when the absolute right physical gift pops up, I'll grab it and surprise you with it.  But for now, I vow to keep your Mountain Dew drawer stocked while you are working your tail off creating your masterpiece.

 

(The After... for now)

 

Happy Father's Day, babe.  Thank you for being the hardworking and relaxed parent that you are.  Thank you in advance for all the wonderful memories, talents and life skills you are going to be teaching our children in this very garage.  Thank you for believing in me, supporting me, and pushing me to try new things (even when they didn't work out).   You deserve more than I can give you but I'll keep trying. 

 

Love, Me.