My Husband Always Brings Me Roses

If I was in my first year of marriage that statement *might* be true.  McKay gave me flowers a lot when we were dating and first married and it was ALWAYS red rose.  He gave me them so much that I figured that I should use them in our wedding.  Our wedding colors were red, brown, and cream so it fit perfectly.

 
But then as most marriages go, we got complacent, money got tight, and the flowers stopped coming. 

For the most part I am ok with that.

 No I do not need flowers 5-6 times a year or for every major holiday like he did the first year (I am aware of how much they can cost), but there is a part of me (probably the selfish part) that wants them once or twice a year. (it has definitely been more than a year since I got any)

So.... I decided at the beginning of the year that I would give him a couple months, but if none came I was going to make a comment/reminder that I LOVED receiving flowers.  

Well Valentines and my birthday past and... no flowers ( they happen to be the same week).  Although he did make me a yummy cake for my birthday.  So one night a few weeks later I stated my case.  It was a pretty direct and to the point comment, but I have found that I can't always beat around the bush when it comes to comments like these because he might not always understand my hint (men don't read between the lines very well... they need it spelled out.).  He seemed to understand and I may get some flowers this year. 

P.S. complaining about not receiving flowers is not the MAIN part of this post, I was just laying the ground work for this next part.

Yesterday I ran across a post on another blog about a 30 day challenge that they were going to do; where everyday for 30 days they were going to make a conscious effort to do something nice for their husbands.  I thought it was a sweet idea and it got me thinking about what I would do for McKay.  Good thought right?  Well it also got me thinking about what McKay does for me (tons of stuff), oh and how I still haven't gotten any flowers this year...  Not good thought. 

As I was contemplating this thought I was cleaning out our basement.  Specifically all of my childhood treasures (so fun to look through some of that stuff) I came across my wedding time capsule that I made in Young Women's at church.  Of course I had already opened it 3 1/2 years ago but I looked at a few things again and found an ensign article tucked inside. 

By the way, a wedding time capsule is where you put little trinkets and ideas for your future wedding into a can and then seal it until you get engaged.  Some of the things in mine were qualities I wanted in a husband, my dream wedding colors, pictures of your favorite dress, how many kids you want, etc.  (basically a Pinterest board on paper) :) Mine was fairly similar to how my wedding actually turned out because we did these time capsules when I was almost 18 and I got married at the ripe old age of 19.  So not much time had passed.  I even had wished that the wedding dress picture in mine was my real dress.  But I couldn't find the exact one so I got one close to it. 

Just for fun here is the picture of me that was taken on the night that we made our time capsules...

 

Anyways, back to that ensign article that I mentioned above.  The title of it was "My Husband Always Brings Me Roses- But they're rarely from the florist".  It was written by Carol M. Sieverts and published in the April 1988 ensign.  Click here to read the full version.  

 

As you can imagine she talks about how her husband stopped buying her flowers over the years.  How she got annoyed with it, but then realized that even though he didn't buy her actual flowers he was still showing her lots of love. 

 

Just. What. I. Needed. To. Read.

 

I was looking at the negative side of things and not focusing on all of the wonderful things McKay does for me daily.  Yes my romantic heart expect flowers throughout my life as a wife and mother, but honestly all of the other things he does mean so much more than a bouquet a few times a year.   

 

Some of the "roses" that he gives me are...

*wakes up early on the weekends with Addie so that I can sleep in a little bit.

*never complains about a cluttered house or no dinner on the table when he gets home from work.

*Does the dishes often

*loves spending time with me, and tells me this regularly

*Listens to me ramble at the dinner table about this thing or that thing.  With all of my adventures in learning about healthy eating he is the first one that I go to to tell him all the cool things I have learned. 

*Takes Jensen with him to sunday school and priesthood EVERY Sunday so that I can teach my class baby free. 

*Not only lets me, but encourages me to go to Zumba 3 times a week and runs on the weekends kid free

*Watches chick flicks on our date nights because he knows they are my favorite

*Deals with the ups and downs of a stay at home mom's emotions (can be scary sometimes when all you have talked to that day is a 1 year old).

 

and many more things

 

Did reading this article change my attitude towards not getting flowers.  Yep.  I already KNEW that McKay loves me dearly.  I can see it in his actions and hard work for our family.  Silly me for thinking that I NEEDED flowers to show me.  

Love him dearly...

 

 

But you know I am NOT going to inform him of this change in my attitude and let him off the hook of buying me flowers.  A girl can still like pretty things :)   

 

Have a great day!