People Ask How I “Do It All,” Simple, I Don’t — We Do.

How do I do it all?

Simple. I don’t. We do. For every hour I spend writing an article, he is emptying the dishwasher and refereeing arguments. For every hour he spends working out, I‘m folding clothes or filling milk cups.

I get to work on time because he knows how to get our daughter’s hair into pigtails.

He gets to work on time because I put the bag of extra hats and mittens in the car before I leave.

We have dinner on the table every night because I take Monday, Wednesday, Friday and he takes Tuesday and Thursday.

I RSVP to the birthday parties. He remembers that today is Hat Day at school.

I buy the groceries. He mows the lawn.

When I raise my voice, he brings the calm.

When he gets frustrated, I tag myself in.

Kelly Whitman Photography

There are days when I feel like I am carrying the load.

There are days when he feels like he is carrying the load.

But we figure it out. Even it out. And when we can’t even it out, we say thank you.

We are not the perfect team all the time. Sometimes my jokes aren’t funny. Sometimes he doesn’t listen. Sometimes I take things too personally. Sometimes he doesn’t notice.

But there is no one else I’d rather have on my team. Our team.

Sometimes we do it all well, sometimes we do it all just okay, but we always do our best to hold up each other’s house of cards.

And since I don’t say it enough. Thank you. For all of it.