The Balancing Act

I will be getting back out here more soon, really. As Bald Man mentioned, schooling has started up again, and for us that is full-day homeschooling, or some semblance of it. Bald Man seems to be holding down the fort well enough, though, starting up trouble and conflict and such.

Anyway, that’s kinda my question today. When you got married, did you think about whether or not your future spouse would be able to take up the slack and get things done in the family when you were struggling to, and vice versa? Because, you know, you get married with all the idealism of sharing the struggles and burdens and work of a marriage equally, but rarely does it seem to be equal. I mean, overall maybe it does. However, at any given time, it seems that one of us is doing better overall than the other, and the other is the one that has to step up to make sure that the house keeps running and that all within it are adequately surviving.

I can’t say for sure that I gave it a lot of thought. I mean, we were practically still kids when we got married, for goodness sake. But, we’d been together for 5 years, and I think I knew that I could count on him for anything in any situation. There was nothing that was below him to do (other than deal with soggy cookies from the kids, but I could have guessed that one), nothing he wouldn’t step up and deal with if I couldn’t. I think he knows the same about me. There are definitely certain responsibilities that we each prefer, but should either of us need it, the other would make sure that everything that needed to be done would get done.

I’m not sure exactly where this thought is headed, other than that I’ve seen marriages where this isn’t the case. I wonder if this aspect of marriage, of co-habitation and of running a household together, is even commonly considered before a marriage. I think it should be, but I certainly don’t remember it from the whole pre-marital counseling sessions. How ’bout you?

photo credit: OwenBlacker