Let Your Husband be the Hero

Today as I was taking down Christmas decorations, my thirteen-year-old daughter picked up a small, faded snow globe.  "I remember this.  Daddy gave it to me."  Her eyes shined with love as she admired the old globe.

I remember that day too.  Anna had to get a shot at the doctor so I bribed her with a dollar to be brave.  She was only seven-years-old at the time.  After enduring the shots, we drove to the Dollar Store near our home.  She looked through the entire store until her eyes fell upon a small snow glove with two red cardinals in a nest.  When she tipped the globe upside-down, snow would fall around the pretty birds.  A dollar later, we were on our way home with her new treasure (so worth the shot now!).

Upon climbing out of the car, Anna lost hold of her brown bag containing her globe and it came falling to the ground with a crash.  We could not see the damage since it was concealed in the brown bag, but I looked at her and she looked at me knowing the fate of her precious new toy.

With tears in her eyes, we took the broken treasure inside.

I had a choice to make.  Get back in the car, drive back to the Dollar Store and buy her a new one (there were multiple to choose from)...or call Daddy.  I thought for just a moment and decided what a treat it would be for my husband to come home with a replacement snow globe.

One thing I remember telling my young children multiple times was how thankful we should be to have a Daddy who loves us so much he goes to work every morning, and works every day to provide us with a home, food and things we need.  A mother's job is to boost her husbands self-image, right?

When Bret walked in the door after a long day work, he was carrying a small brown bag.  He hunched down to Anna's small stature and let her open the bag.  Inside, as you may guess, was a small snow globe with two cardinals sitting in a nest covered in snow.  Anna was ecstatic to see her beautiful birds again.  She gave her Daddy a huge hug.

I could have been the hero of this story.  Instead I chose to set my husband up to foster the love between a daughter and father.  Now, six years later, she stills looks at that globe and remembers the love of her father.

Am I a little bummed she doesn't know my side of the story and all my work orchestrating it all?  Maybe a little.  But what I love more is that my daughter adores her father.

Are you setting your spouse up to be the hero?  Try it and watch what happens!