The Good Ol' Days

Matthew is an incredible father and husband and has been working so hard (at work, at home, and in the yard) that I thought I would thank him for all that he does for us. For those of you who know Matthew, you know that he thinks with only one part of his body… his stomach (gross, what were you thinking?).  So I thought I would make him a fancy dinner, just like I used to do (before kids). I wanted him to see how much I appreciate and ‘see’ all that he is doing for us (even if I forget to comment on it). So I took the kids grocery shopping and utilized their nap time to prep for this beautiful dinner.

The table was set with our wedding china; a fancy zin filled our wedding crystal wine glasses, the cloth napkins were folded perfectly inside the mother-of-pearl napkin rings we had picked out together. (There were even different sized of forks and a salad plate). You get the picture… a beautiful fancy perfect diner.  I prepared a spring salad with heirloom tomatoes form the garden, fresh steamed spinach and veal saltimbocca with sautéed mushrooms! Then I made a flourless dark chocolate cake with fresh peach sauce for dessert. All looked, smelled and tasted perfect. I had visions of getting all dolled up, getting the kids in their Sunday clothes, and the house spick and span and really blowing his socks off.

What he got was; me still in my sweaty runny clothes (hair in shambles), the kids in the same clothes they had been in all day (I didn’t even get a chance to wash their faces) and the house looked… lived in. The food was wonderful though (if I do say so myself), Mallory sat in her seat and ate for all of 5 minutes then asked to be excused and chased Sonny with a plastic rake and tried to brush him (he was her pet lamb apparently) and Wesley grunted and whimpered because I couldn’t shovel his dinner of bananas and peas in his mouth quick enough. Pretty sure I wasn’t able to make eye contact with Matthew for more than a few seconds before having to attend to someone about something.

But in the end Matthew took me in his arms, kissed me hard, and squeezed me tight and I knew he KNEW what I was trying to do for him. Our life isn’t like the good ol’ days… it’s different… it’s better.