Today was one of the very first days of my life where I felt like all of me.

I write this post in Winnemucca, Nevada. It’s a small town, population >8,000, but a motel on every corner. There is one main street, and then other lateral streets are labeled First, Second, and Third Street. I don’t believe it goes higher than Fourth Street.

And believe it or not, it’s been in this tiny town, with basically only four streets, that I felt like all of me. Because today I got to be a mom and a teacher.

This was only possible because of my husband. He is back home with Hudson while I’m in Winnemucca. He is feeding, diapering, sleep training, and all other “-ings” pertaining to parenting all by his onesies.

And let me just acknowledge, that yes, in an ideal world, women can be mothers and employees without any tension. And in an ideal world, men aren’t babysitting their own children, they’re just fathering. And in an ideal world, parenting falls on all four shoulder of two devoted parents.

In an ideal world, women shouldn’t have to say thank you to a spouse for doing the nurturing that she does daily. But just look to my last post to realize that this isn’t at all an ideal world. This is 2018.

It isn’t an ideal world, but I do have an ideal spouse, so if I shouldn’t have to say thank you, can I at least say I am thankful FOR him?

I am thankful for…

But you know what? Scratch that. Thank you, Jeremy for being a higher of Ideal. Because we don’t have to thank each other for doing what we decided to do when we became parents. Yet you still sent this:

So thank you, Jeremy. You’re just a really good dad that allows me to be every part of a woman that I want to be. Being your wife is part of being all of me. I love you so dearly.