I’ve been toying with starting a new column here in the marriage blog and I’ve finally come up with a name for it that I was looking for: Tales of Marriage. In Tales of Marriage we’re going to share the different stories of marriages both from a personal perspective such as our own or from our guest bloggers and more.
If you have a Tale of Marriage that you would like to share, please feel free to send me or Sherry a note and we’ll be sure to share your tale here. For today, I’m sharing a personal moment that I enjoyed rather unexpectedly last night.
The Unexpected Compliment
My husband was sharing the story of a co-worker who is going through an unfortunate custody dispute with his soon to be ex-wife. Without going into a great deal of the details, my husband gave him some advice and recommended an attorney that we know. In casual conversation between the two of them, his friend said:
It’s hard to prepare for this moment, you don’t know what’s going to happen and you don’t plan for a divorce.
My husband disagreed. As he told me while we were standing outside in the garage, grilling stakes and watching the rain pour down. He knows exactly what would happen if he and I decided to go our separate ways. No matter what the issue was that drove us apart, he would want our daughter to stay with me. When his friend asked him why, he said:
My wife is the better parent. She’s great at it. She always knows what’s going on and what needs to happen. I’m a good dad, but she’s the better parent and our daughter would be in the best hands if she is with her.
No One Likes to Talk About Divorce
It’s a wonderful compliment and while we have no intentions of divorcing and we’re not even in the position where divorce is a necessary topic of discussion – but a couple of years ago, our situation was a great deal tenser. There were any number of issues we needed to tackle and it was hard. We made it through though and we’re closer and better off for it.
His statement did touch me. The unexpected compliment didn’t surprise me, but it did make me feel pretty good. He’s right, he is a good dad and we would do our absolute best to make sure that our daughter never feels like the bone of contention – but being told you are a great parent – yeah, I admit it, I enjoyed that!
What tales of your marriage would you like to share?