I was very excited to surprise my husband with some gardening. He has been complaining that the children have been picking his flowers (he is the gardener in the house …
or was …). So I thought I would spend time today making distinct rock garden areas versus “paths” that I put cedar mulch on to encourage the children to stay on.
Throughout the day I pulled weeds, “fluffed” the soil (yes, my official gardener lingo) and moved the rocks out of the garden and to the edges. All the children and I were proud (they got to choose which rocks went where). And then my husband came home.
I think the husband mistakes me for his toddler daughter instead of the mother of his children because there was no thank you, just “you didn’t put underlay under the cedar mulch – you just wasted it” and “you don’t know what were weeds and what were my flowers! you plucked out everything” which in my defense I ONLY plucked dandelions because that is all I know to be weeds and I made a special point of NOT touching anything that looked like a flower or like it was about to sprout.
Needless to say my feelings are beyond hurt. Here I am, medically depressed, on day four of a new medication (which is emotional to begin with and I did warn the husband about this) and here I am being berated and told I don’t respect the man, quite loudly and with neighbours directly on the other side of the fence within a few yards I might add. Am I such a terrible wife for wanting to help my husband get to some of the outdoor things he never gets a chance to do or to want to feel good about myself for accomplishing a project or for wanting a simple “thank you for trying to help me”?
