i loved that movie (when i was but a wee-tween) where jodi foster and her mom switch roles for the day. hilarious and heart-warming. i have heard that it has been remade: don’t bother to watch any remake of that movie; the original is best!

for the first three days of last week’s work-week, kenny and i switched roles. i would get up, shower, eat breakfast and be on my way to “work” before 7:00 am, returning home at 5:00. i was so exhausted at the end of each day, and the 50-minute drive home each day got harder and harder. i couldn’t imagine doing it another day!

kenny took vacation two of those days and worked from home the other. the boys had a great time hanging out with their daddy all three days AND he had dinner planned, prepped, and started by the time i walked in the door each night. as i walked in on the third night (my last day of teaching), he handed me a glass of wine and told me to sit down and put my feet up, smells of peanut-coconut sauce wafting through the kitchen…ahhh!!!  heaven!

i told him he did a better job at my job than i did, half-jokingly. i know that staying at home with his boys was a treat for him, but he is good at what he does at work, and provides well for all of us. i could never do his job (nor would i want to leave the stay-at-homeschooling-mom position that i love!).

what the past few days taught me is that we are both equally satisfied with our familial roles. what it mostly taught me is that i can’t expect him to have energy to be with the kids the minute he walks in the door, and i wish i could take back those days when the kids were young and FULL of energy and baby/toddler-ness, and beg demand that he take over when he came home from work to relieve me of my daily duties. because i can vouch for the exhaustion being away all day and driving home brings!

switching roles temporarily allows us to “walk a mile” in each other’s shoes.  i was grateful for the opportunity to “bring home the bacon” for a few days because it made me realize how much i love what i do every day, and more grateful for what kenny does every day for us!