I'll never forget the discouragement, anger and pain expressed in a letter by a woman who attended one of our FamilyLife Conferences. She protested my unmitigated gall in referring to tired husbands. Then she gave me her daily schedule, plus a big piece of her mind:5:30-Rise and start getting myself ready and put coffee on.
6:00-Start breakfast and get child's bag ready for day care.
6:30-Get hubby and kids up, fed and dressed for school.
7:00-Wash dishes.
7:15-Get kids on bus and finish dressing.
7:30-Leave for day care center and work. Coffee for breakfast.
8:00-4:00-Eight hours' work.
4:30-Back to day care, sometimes picking up something for supper.
5:15-11:00-Come home, start supper, load washer, help kids with lessons, listen to school tales. Fold clothes, wash dishes, run sweeper, baths for kids and me, flop in bed for next day.
Saturday-Clean house, do weekly shopping, prepare meals, wash dishes, get the kids cleaned up.
Sunday-Church, meals, do things around the house I neglected all week.
Of course in and around this schedule she had to work in trips to the doctor and dentist, attend PTA and other school programs, and receive occasional company that dropped by.
"And where is hubby all this time?" she wrote. "Glued to the paper or stuck in front of the TV. It's pretty hard to want to make love to a glob that finally unsticks himself from TV when I am semiconscious and look and feel like I've been drug through the brush backwards. Thanks for your help."
I wish this frustrated wife had included her name and address, because I wanted to write and apologize for sounding unsympathetic and insensitive.
I'd also like to speak with her husband.