My husband went purse shopping with me the other day. Yes, you read that right, he went purse shopping with me. Purse shopping is not a usual outing for us, but the two of us were out and about over the break and decided to use the gift cards we got for Christmas. He not only went purse shopping with me, but when I couldn’t find the one I wanted at the store where we bought his Levis, he agreed to go to another store just so I could find the right purse.

 

Embarrassingly enough, I decided I needed a purse to match my new car. I’m no fashionista and I can’t ever remember a time when I tried to match my purse to anything, much less a car, but he indulged me and I have to admit, he was rather helpful in my undertaking. Heck, my husband will even hold my purse in public when I go off to the bathroom.

 

As people in a committed relationship, we often go above and beyond to please the other person, even if it’s something we wouldn’t normally be caught doing. My sacrifices are writing his car club’s poker run every summer and going to Home Depot to help him reason through repair parts for different projects.

 

But my tasks aren’t limited to those occasional sacrifices. I make appointments, do the laundry, make dinner most nights, grocery shop, pay bills, schedule home repairs, fix the computer, manage his children’s schedules, manage his schedule, mow the lawn, garden, coordinate vacations, organize the house, and make his “honey-do” lists. It makes me tired thinking about it. It’s a good thing I have kids who help me clean the house.

 

 

My husband’s no slouch, however. He goes to work every day, fixes the cars, mows the lawn when I need him to, helps with the dishes on the weekends and occasionally works on the honey-do list. There is a lot of give and take in a marriage and I think we have a pretty good balance in ours.

 

 

But towards the end of the year, I get pretty tired of my myriad of duties. It seems my husband always has a lot of overtime before Christmas, which means I’m left alone to arrange Christmas by myself, as well as continue my normal household chores. It often pushes me into a dark place.

 

 

On top of all this, we had a lot of company for Christmas this year. My sister was here for seven days, so my mother was back a forth a lot, my cousins visited; all this took a lot of attention away from our marriage.

 

 

In swoops my knight in shining armor. I think my husband realizes I’ve about had it at this time of year; he gets much more attentive during the Christmas break. He’s home for a week and half or so because he works at Boeing, so he gets up every morning, hands me my coffee when I walk out of the bedroom, makes me breakfast, invites me to go see chick flicks at the theater, runs household errands with me, grocery shops with me and he goes purse shopping.

 

 

We all make sacrifices in a marriage.

 

Gretchen Leigh is a stay-at-home mom who lives in Covington. She is currently enjoying her new purse. You can also read more of her writing and her daily blog on her website livingwithgleigh.com or on Facebook at “Living with Gleigh.” Her column is available every week at maplevalleyreporter.com under the Lifestyles section.