Make him glad your the one waiting inside.

One time Tom was sweetly calling Cubby to come to him, simply to pet her and play a little. When she came up the stairs the smell came to greet us first. She had rolled into something outside and was smelly and dirty. All of Toms desire to spend time with her, pet her, was done. He had to take her outside and give her a bath before he could even conscider petting her again. In fact he loves when she is really clean and shiney. No one really likes a Dirty Dog.

One of the things that happened to me when I had my second child was I got really busy. I had so much to do and so little time. I wanted to spend quality time with my kids, make yummy meals, keep my house clean and continue to do ministry. I dont know how, but in all of that I put how I looked on the back burner. I didn't intend to, but it happened! I would look good if I went out, but not in my home day to day.

Tom would come home and I would have my hair pulled back, no make up on, sweat pants and usually a t-shirt that had something on it that indicated what the kids ate for lunch or what was planned for dinner. He didn't care he loved me and knew I was busy. Right? Maybe he didnt want to drag me out to the yard and bath me, but I began to wonder if comeing home to a shabby wife day after day was discouraging to him. I decided to change this after a visit to his office.

I went to his office to bring him something one afternoon. He had several IBM visitors there as well as regular office staff there. All of the women I came across were dressed for work. They were cleaned,they were well made up, they looked very nice and put together. I thought to myself he spends all days woth these women and comes home to Mrs. Sweatpants and pony tail. I came home feeling like I was an old mom. I momentarily had a thought that I missed the work world and that was the problem. However, that was not it, I loved being a wife and mother and would not ever want to do anything else. I just knew that I wanted to look more put together, partly for me, mostly for Tom.

I didnt want Tom to have any reason to look anywhere else. I wanted him to walk in the door and think, there is my beautiful wife. So, that next day I looked at the clock and knew Tom would be home in a few minutes. I flew up the stairs, ran a brush through my hair, put on a touch of make-up, perfume, and a nice shirt to go over my jeans. To be honest it was nothing at all like the buisness women I had seen at his work the day before, but it was A LOT better then what I had looked like.

He walked in and as I smiled and greeted him he said, "Wow you look great, where did you go today?" He had assumed that I only looked that way because I had been somewhere special. "No where, I just wanted to look nice for you" I replied.

I have continued to do a little primping if necessary, right before he comes in since then. Trust me there are days that no one looks good, but I wanted to look better for him on a more consistent basis. I wanted him to be glad he came home, glad he came home to me.

Its so easy to let ourselves go, its easy to make excuses, but its just as easy to do 10 minutes each day before they come home to make them glad your the one waiting inside.


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