What am I most thankful for this holiday season? My relationship with my wife, by far.
Without her, none of the other really great things in my life – family, work, fun – would happen the way they have happened.
I’m not saying this to be mushy. I’m saying this for a pragmatic reason: working parents need to acknowledge and give great thanks for the people who partner with them – as spouses or in other roles.
I’m truly grateful for my wife every single day. I’m saying this now because one of the things The Company of Dads is trying to do is bring honesty to the workplace when it comes to parenting. We cannot do what we do as working parents without help.
In my case, as a Lead Dad, I move my schedule around what my wife needs to get done and where our daughters need to be. I’ve been doing it since 2013, so I’ve got the juggle down by now.
Others do it differently. But as we give thanks on Thursday let’s think of how honest we can be at work. It’ll go a long way to inspire younger workers to see that senior executives with families got there with help.
Here are seven things where I am grateful to be on this journey with my wife:
1) Life is fun. It’s great to have a partner to share so much of this.
2) Life is hard. It’s really great to have a partner to get through the not-great moments together.
3) Work is super stimulating and inspiring. It’s great to have a partner to talk about the wins. They feel even sweeter when shared, since we know the work that went into each one.
4) Work is a goat rodeo punctuated by expletives a la John McEnroe in his racquet-slamming prime. It’s great to have a partner who can listen, if not fix, what’s happening. This is not so much misery loves company as a sounding board to vent and to calibrate a response.
5) Kids are amazing. Like super amazing. Plus, how great to have someone to laugh about what just happened and to remember similarly fun stories from years past?
6) Kids are incredibly challenging. Like what were we thinking. Caregiving. Driving. Homework. Bad decisions. Friend drama. Sibling drama. Social media drama. Thankfully I have someone to go through this with!
7) Home. The good, the bad, the absurd – it all gets swirled up into what we have. Even on the most exhausting days, when work or family are out of balance, I’m still grateful.
This week, we’ll host my family for Thanksgiving. There will be lots of gratefulness to go around the table. But for me that gratitude starts with my wife and I know it’s mutual. Neither of us could do what we’re doing the way we’re doing it without the other.
