Give & Take

I've been working as a dental assistant for the past four months at Alan's office because his assistant, Nora, broke both of her ankles (klutzy move) and was off for three months. At the request of my sweet husband, I was brought in and trained in the back office to help offer relief for the part-time assistant, Kathi. Things were working out well until Kathi was called to jury duty in Los Angeles for two weeks, making it even more necessary for me to put in hours at the office. We survived that storm, but as it turned out, Nora couldn't come back to work so Alan had to let her go and Kathi became the full-time assistant and I became the part-timer. Long story short.....since I've been spending so much time at the office, my house has been neglected. Being a stay-at-home Mom all these years, I'm used to having a routine with regards to my work around the house. That routine was shattered when I started working at the office. Here's where the give & take comes in. Since I worked so many hours this week at the office, which didn't leave much time for housework, Alan was an angel today and helped me out. So far today he has dusted the whole house, vacuumed the whole house (see the photo below), stripped the sheets off the bed, and hung new family photos in the den. That gave me time to do the grocery shopping, do two loads of laundry, sweep and mop the kitchen floor, and other miscellaneous chores that needed to be done. Tomorrow, before we celebrate our anniversary (late) by going to a movie and dinner, we will take down the outside Christmas lights and clean all three bathrooms. Alan routinely helps with the dishes and takes out the garbage, so now I guess I just need to teach him how to cook! Oh, the fun never stops with house work. I'm so glad that Alan is not one of those husbands who thinks that housework is woman's work only. Give & take, I tell you. That makes happy marriages!