My wonderful husband works Friday, Saturday, Sunday, 12 hours shifts, then most every Monday is an 8 hour shift. On his work days the alarm goes off at 5:30 am!! On the days he doesn't work he usually will sleep until 7:00. He's a trooper!!Me? I love to sleep!! Age however has caused me to not sleep real well through the night. Thankfully I don't have to set an alarm and can allow myself the luxury of sleeping until I wake. Because we home school I usually allow the kids the luxury of sleeping until 8:00 or 8:30 on school days. And we do make them go to bed at a reasonable hour on school nights, so they get plenty of rest. (They inherited my sleep gene.)
On some strange level all this make me feel very guilty. Mike is up and going and working hard and we all get to sleep. It really doesn't bother him one way or the other. Maybe it doesn't matter. Is it my Catholic upbringing that allows such guilty feelings over something so trivial?
Maybe I should start getting up and enjoying the quiet of the house and allowing myself prayer time then, instead of during the day?
Well, just wanted to put my thoughts out there in cyber blog land...
I know this is almost a month old, but I just saw it...
ReplyDeleteI don't think guilt is necessary. We have different roles in our mutual vocation to marriage. We also have different temperaments, styles, sleep needs, etc.
My husband and I were discussing this recently... how he has these fixed hours and meetings and long days. Most often my day provides much more opportunity to take a break here or there, spend a few minutes knitting or checking out blogs or whatever. He is the "sleeper" I get up in the dark, but I'm still sipping coffee when he leaves for the day.
I think that comparing the two is an exercise in frustration. Each has a job to do. The hours and the details are different. We both contribute to the well-being of the family. Comparing the two (whether the hours or "getting" to get out of the house or whatever) can set us up for unnecessary frustration. We can't compare our days, so we usually don't even try. On the occasion that one of us does compare, it usually triggers resentment of the other. You know, the grass is always greener.... So it's not worth it. If you're doing what you ought, then be at peace.