My Husband

I am so lucky to be married to my husband.  He is constantly surprising me with his generosity and his big heart.  He makes me want to be a better person through the example that he sets for me. 

Every year, the coworkers on his team get together and pitch in to buy clothes/toys to help a family in need.  At least they used to on his old team.  And every year, my husband budgets some money from our Christmas spending for this cause.  This year he is on a new team, and it was uncertain whether or not this new team would continue the tradition.  Still, the  money is set aside for that purpose. 

Yesterday I discovered that a friend of mine from high school (childhood, really) is struggling to make ends meet.  She is a single mom of two girls, a student getting ready to graduate with her bachelors degree, and plans (hopes) to go on to grad school, as her anthropology degree isn’t really valid in the workplace without a masters.  But the bills are piling up, the was an error discovered in her financial aid which she will have to pay back, and she has no money for her girls for Christmas. 

I asked my husband if there was any news regarding his ‘work family’ and the money to be spent helping them out.  I asked if there wasn’t going to be a family this year, if I could make a suggestion.  I told him about my friend and her Christmas plight, and asked if we could find a way to help out.  He asked me how much money I thought should go toward this friend of mine.  Knowing that my husband is very money conscious and a stickler for following the budget, I told him that I just wanted to give each girl a little something to have on Christmas morning, and that the money budgeted out for his ‘work family’ would be enough.  He told me no, that it wasn’t enough.  He then proceeded to suggest an amount that far exceeded my initial proposal. 

Every time I think about his words I get teary eyed and cry.  My husband truly is a wonderful, remarkable man with such a big heart.  He is such a good example of what this Christmas season is all about and I am so glad that I can call him mine.