The Gift of Doing

Today is my third day of 29 Gifts giving.  I knew last night what I wanted to give today. But first a little background.

 

My husband takes great care of me, our children, our house, our yard, all the things both big and small that make our family comfortable. When we married over 18 years ago, we made an agreement that while I would take care of the family paperwork, bill-paying, etc., he would clean the bathrooms.  That seemed like a fair exchange as I don't mind the paperwork and do mind bathroom cleaning, and he minds bill-paying, but doesn't mind cleaning the bathroom.  Over the course of time, the bathroom cleaning became all sweeping, mopping, and vacuuming.  In addition, he takes care of the yard, the car maintenance, and the garbage.  And he doesn't complain.  He doesn't procrastinate.  He just gets in there and takes care of what needs to be done.  I asked him about that recently and he said that he just does it because it needs to be done. He doesn't enjoy it, but he knows when he has something that has to be done, it's best to just get in there and do it.

 

Today is garbage day.  Which means when he comes home from work, he'll have to drag the recycle bins and garbage can from the street back to the house.  He leaves for work so early in the morning that the sun hasn't even come up.  When I was thinking about today's gift, I thought that I would surprise him by bringing the bins back to the garage.  So when I heard the recycle truck go by, I did just that!  I haven't told him, and I won't ask him about it when I get home from work myself. I wonder if he'll even mention that the bins were already collected. 

 

The best part is that even if he doesn't, I know it made his afternoon a little easier.  And that giving doesn't have to be tangible things. That sometimes the best gift can be having something done for you, especially if it's something you do because you have to.