Every Morning

Every night for the past month, my husband has gone on a treasure hunt, usually when I’m not looking. On this hunt he collects hats and gloves and mittens. He lays wet ones on the heating vents to dry and places dry ones on our bench in the foyer, setting up stations for each kid. First come the coats – the pink for the youngest, the teal for the oldest, the blue for our son – and then on top go the hats and gloves and scarves.

I’ve caught him doing this a few times when I’ve come back from dropping the kids at sports practice or popped downstairs after a long bedtime wrangling the preschooler. Each time I thank him and he says it’s no big deal, but to me, it always is.

Because organizing winter accessories is not my forte. I’m good at many things – like keeping track of work deadlines or organizing my thoughts in an essay or novel. Those things come naturally to me. But keeping track of physical objects? That has always been a challenge. In high school, my room was such a mess it drove my mother crazy just to look at the piles of clothes, the makeup bottles strewn across my dresser. In college, my apartment was such a disaster I’m still shocked my now-husband didn’t take off running. I am proud to say that since my early days, I have gotten a lot neater. My oldest now carries the torch for messiest room.

And yet organizing a house still doesn’t come naturally. I doubt it ever will.

Yet instead of getting frustrated, my husband just jumps in and helps. I guess that’s the beauty of teamwork. We compensate for each other, picking up the slack where the other person needs it most.

So this morning I was ready to do just that. For all of January, my husband worked remotely, but today he headed back into the office. So I gave myself extra time. Told the kids they needed to be prepared to find their stuff. With our game plan in place, we went downstairs. And then we saw it. The piles on the bench. The mittens dry, the hats found, the coats all laid out.

I don’t even know when he did it.

But I do know that I’m thankful. And that this simple act will always be my definition of love.