[2023-08-13] Grateful for my husband
The other day, my husband told me he was proud of me for sharing the story of my mastectomy, reconstruction and removal of one implant. He told me that when he first realized that I was writing about the subject, he thought "Wow, she's writing about that?" And then, almost immediately, he thought, "Of course she's writing about that." He understood the value to others of my sharing this story.
Another man might have preferred that I didn't talk publicly about my breasts, worrying what other men might think about him for having a wife with only one breast.
But Chris has never really worried about what others think. When I returned to work after maternity leave for my son, Chris traded a full-time position for a part-time one so that he could take care of Shane during the day. When our daughter was four, Chris took Melanie to preschool, where he was the only man among all the moms who volunteered. He never got fussed about what others thought of our non-traditional gender roles.
I've often quoted writer May Sarton who talked about the humility, honesty and sense of destiny required by someone who allows their private dilemmas to serve as a public example to others. Sometimes, those closest to writers inevitably have their stories told as well. As I have shared my experience through this blog, I've often shared the experiences of my husband and children too. That has required humility, honesty and a sense of destiny on their part. And I'm grateful to them for allowing me to express my truth.
Today, I am especially thankful for my husband's pride in me, for his support as I have gone through a litany of medical issues in the past three years, and for his continued kisses, which communicate that he is as in love with me now as he was when we first met.
