Priorities Part II: Credit Where Credit is Due

So those of you who know me personally probably read the list in my last post and said to yourselves "Iron clothes? Yeah, Right. We all know Mark ironed your clothes last night." Normally you would be right. Not today.

Confession: My husband irons my clothes every day. Seriously. It was part of our "Marriage Expectations" at our pre-marital counselling that in the division of labor, he would do the ironing. At the time, it was kind of a joke. Nearly six years later, and it has turned out to be anything but a joke. In fairness to me, Mark loves to iron. Loves it. Go figure. Every night, about 10:00, he pulls out the ironing board and irons all the clothes needed for the next day while watching a re-run of "Frasier". This is such an important time of day for him that last Fall, when our local Fox affiliate decided to show something other than "Frasier" at 10:00, Mark was beside himself. Because I love him, I searched my DVR for when else during the day "Frasier" might be on and recorded it for him everyday so he could watch it while he ironed. Fortunately our Fox affiliate came to their senses and "Frasier" is back on at 10. All is right with the world.

So the point of my post (and I do have one) is that today, for the first time in nearly six years, I had to iron my own clothes. There is a long, drawn out explanation for why, but I will give you the "nutshell" version. My pants were still wet in the dryer when he was ironing last night. Why not wear a different pair of pants, you might ask? That has to due with my recent 30 pound weight loss and all of the new pants I have bought in my new size are for summer (because it's June) but the weather here is not summery, so I have very few options of clothes that are a) weather appropriate and b) fit me. Throw into the mix a toddler who leaves a big, muddy footprint while climbing into the car on the knee of the only long pants you have the fit you, and you have officially heard the whole story of "Why I Had to Have THAT Pair of Pants, and Why They Were Wet" (so much for the "nutshell" version).

So today I had to iron. And I discovered something. If anything should ever happen to Mark, and I was forced to become a single mother, taking care of the entire household, my kids and I would be fed, bathed, and financially supported, but we would be wrinkled. I just took 20 minutes to iron one pair of pants and they still look like I slept in them.

So I wanted to take a minute to publicly thank my husband, who is so kind to make sure I am always pressed and perfect. I also think you need to teach me how to iron.