A Dad in Shining Armor

Hey Dad,

It’s eleven o’clock in the morning. The kids are still in their pajamas, the house is a disaster, and my two-year-old has consumed an entire box of Ritz crackers. I wouldn’t be in this predicament if my wife hadn’t decided to get sick this morning.

At 6:30 A.M., she quietly announced that she felt terrible. Being the good husband that I am and the author of a weekly Familyman e-mail, I leaned over and said, “You just stay in bed and rest.” After all, how hard could it be to care for five kids and fit in a little homeschooling?

An hour later, I scrapped the idea of homeschooling, stuck in a video, and spent the next couple of hours cleaning up all the messes my two-year-old had made.

Eventually, I slipped upstairs hoping to find my wife totally healed and ready to take over. Man, was I disappointed to find her groaning and covered by a mound of blankets instead.

From the mound came a muffled voice, “I don’t feel like you care that I’m sick.”

“What? I thought you were sleeping,” I answered. “I’ve stayed away so you could rest.”

I was sure she would remind me how her father used to pamper her and treat her like a princess when she was sick. I hate when she does that.

She didn’t, but I could read it in her eyes. She wanted me to treat her lovingly, to feel her forehead, and groan in sympathy. She wanted to feel cared for and loved by her man. I have to confess that I don’t always do that. Usually I say, “Hope you feel better” and then head off to work.

If you think about it, moms get a raw deal. Dads get sick and take a vacation day; moms get sick and still have a family to care for.

It’s about time that we dads put our money where our mouth is and treat our sick wives like…we want to be treated. It’s time we stay home from work, skip a meeting, or miss a practice to come to the rescue of our wives, proving that we’re not the insensitive clods that they think we are.

So, I guess I’ll go straighten up the kitchen, get the kids dressed, and take some chicken noodle soup to my wife and ask how my sick little pumpkin is doing. Hey, I might even try to get in some school…or maybe I’ll just skip that part and pop in another video and pray she gets well before tomorrow.

You ‘da husband!