I Cooked Supper

     Mike and I have spent very little time apart since August 8, 2005, the day we met eight years ago. I was attending college, and he lived in Panama City, Florida at that time. Even then, he was was working in a fire department. He would drive to see me every shift he was off.  He would be waiting for me to get out of class. He would spend the whole day with me and would leave just in time to get home and in the bed. On March 10, 2007, I married my best friend. Nothing has changed about how much time we still spend together. We still enjoy being together. Work is literally the ONLY thing that separates us now, but I am blessed to be a stay at home mother. We love going on dates, with and without the kiddos. When Mike is off work, we do everything together. We go grocery shopping together. I even schedule the boys doctor appointments and therapies for days that Mike can go too. You should see my planner-- cryptic to say the least from keeping up with schedules and making them all fit together. He accompanies me on shopping trips and will even hold my purse. I will go tromping through the woods and work outdoors dragging limbs with him. It doesn't matter what it is that we are doing, we are a team.
     After all this time of being together, I just wasn't prepared for tonight. But let's start at the beginning. Before we had kids and Mike was at work, I wouldn't cook supper for one. I didn't see the point. I'd keep easy microwave meals handy, eat leftovers or a sandwich... maybe even order takeout. After having kids, takeout meals decreased, but we I would still take advantage of the leftovers (the kids can be picky eaters). At that time, Mike was just working every other day.  Leftovers could easily stretch the extra night so that fresh cooked meals could be enjoyed together as a family. Now that there are four of us and he works two days on at a time, leftovers just don't stretch as far. Add that to the fact that Matthew is actually a viable consumer at the dinner table now. So tonight I did something that in 6 years of marriage I hadn't done before: I cooked supper on a night that Mike wasn't home. That may not sound like much to many (and mind you it was a very basic meal), but it meant so much more to me.
     Some may think I'm weird, but to me it's a tragic situation when a couple can be used to and comfortable with being apart. I'm not saying that you should just be all bent out of shape that they aren't with you at all times. The world is not ending, but there should always be the longing to be with your other half.

Genesis 2:24 ESV
Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-11 ESV
Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone?

If it doesn't bother you to be without them, then it might be time and cause for concern. Pray for your marriage always. Strengthen and support each other.
     That being said, you never know how much you will miss something (or someone) until they aren't there. As a firefighter, Mike is gone long hours, but I have had to adjust to the schedule over time. It has become bearable, but never easy. It's harder now that we have kids. We wish we could be together 24/7, but reality also takes hold. Tonight was yet another reality check. Even after all this time, I didn't realize how sad it would make me to cook a meal that Mike wouldn't be here to eat with us until it completely hit me. That being said, if you are blessed to have your spouse at home every night for supper, don't take it for granted. Don't complain about the "burdens" of cooking and cleaning everything up.  Somewhere out there, the wife of a firefighter, oil rig worker, or any of various other extended hour jobs would gladly break out the cooking supplies to have her hubby home for supper. Don't miss a moment. Don't waste time complaining. Cherish every chance to make a memory.