The Best Gift that he ever gave his Wife was from a Dream

Ron finally pulled into his driveway after a very long day at the office but as he stepped out of his 2007 Dodge, he could feel that something was different.  He could not quite put his finger on it but deep down in his bones, things were not the same in the Manns household.  He stepped through the doorway of their modest five bedrooms, two and a half baths home and couldn’t even find the strength to take off his jacket.  He barely had enough energy to make it too his favorite chair in the living room before his entire world became completely black.

Ron awoke to find himself bound to his chair and unable to move his left arm.  Not because someone had actually tie him to the chair but because his youngest son Terren was comfortably laying on it and must have been there for quite some time because his entire arm had went numb.  He was startled in the beginning but as he looked down at his son, it was one of the most precious moments that he had experienced in quite some time and was a welcomed answer to the day that he had endured at his Transportation and Brokerage Business.  He tried ever so gently to cradle his son in his arms and tiptoed to his room to put him into his bed for the night.  As he was tucking in Terren, he heard quiet a commotion just outside of his baby boy’s room.  Thank goodness Terry was a heavy sleeper or that noise would have awoken him.

Ron went to investigate the noise only to find terra, the youngest of the daughters, yelling out of her bedroom window to her friend from next door.  As Ron stood there surprised that his child would be doing this sort of thing of not showing more consideration for the other neighbors who may have just put their kids to bed or looking for a little quiet time.  Terra never knew he was there and Ron had no intentions of confronting her right now.  Ron was more concerned with finding Terra’s mother and wanting to know which way she wished to handle this situation.  Being a former Marine, Ron’s initial reactions was to give Terra a spanking before making her go to bed but he and Bridget had agreed that his initial reactions to thing were better done after he thought them through.

Ron began his search for Bridget but she was no where to be found.  This was completely unlike her.  She was an always home before him and had the children feed, and ready for bed by the time he got home.  Bridget would always have everything under complete control in that house even after working full time as a Physical Therapy Nurse at the local medical center.  He never knew how she could do it but she did and he never once heard her complain or even comment.  He would often time marvel at the way she could enter into any kind of conversation or situation with all four of the children of different ages almost seamlessly.  She never lost her temper with the kids or seemed never to get rattled by heir ever changing behaviors which in itself were a feat that always escaped Ron.

His search turned out to be fruitless, Bridget was no where to be found in the entire house.  Ron did not wish to ask the kids for fear of alarming them and the more he thought about her not being there the more he began to worry.   Many different situations began to dance in his mind and after checking the caller identification on the phone, not seeing a call from the medical center or the police meant that she was not injured or harmed.  His constant thought and the one which would become the primary one was that he had done something to make her leave.  He began to look back over their relationship and could see several things that he could have done better.  He never once checked the closet to see if her clothes were not still there nor did he check the dressers because he really didn’t want to know.  His panic turned into an obsession with her being gone and leaving him all alone to raise their kids.  He began to believe that this happened because he deserved it.  He was not there for her as much as he could have when she decided to go back to school and work after the last child was old enough to begin kindergarten.  He never helped her around the house with the kids or housework as much as he should have and there were times where she wanted to sit together on the sofa cuddling and watching television that he didn’t because work seemed to always come first.  He was convinced that he drove her away and now because he made this bed, he was going to have to lie in it.

He went back to Terra’s room and gave her a stern talking to about yelling form her bedroom window at this time of the night.  He wanted to make sure that all the kids had eaten and was informed by Terra that mom had left them individual meals in the refrigerator to warm in the microwave which the older children were empowered to do for the younger ones.  They were further instructed to allow daddy his relaxing time when he came in from work.  All of these instructions that followed except the one of being in bed by 10 which meant that Terra had to ask if she would be in trouble with mom for not being especially if daddy told.  Ron informed his youngest that there were and never be any secrets between her mother and him but he would not bring it up and if her mother did, he would take the blame for keeping her up.  They agreed and Terra was tucked into bed, given a kiss on the forehead and reminded that daddy would be right outside her door if she needed him.

After checking on the older kids and again on Terren, he went back downstairs to his favorite chair.  He closed his eyes and began to cry.  He made God a promise that if his wife would come back to him and make his family whole, he would do more than he had in the past.  He promised to be a better father, husband and friend.  He promised to allow work to be work between 6am until 6pm because after that it was going to be family time and nothing would ever interfere with that.  After his silent prayer and with a tear rolling down each cheek, Ron felt a hand on his shoulder and a gentle nudge.  He heard a sweet and soft voice whispering his name and when he opened his eyes, there was Bridget standing next to him.

He was so thankful that he snatched her up in his arms and held on to her so tight that she couldn’t breathe.  She was glad that he was happy to see her but was confused because he had never reacted this way before.  She finally convinced him to let her go and when she was about to leave to check on the kids he refused to let go of her hand.  After what seemed like an eternity of gazing into her eyes, he released his grip.  She smiled more warmly than the sun and disappeared up stairs.  He sat fell down on his knees and thanked God like he had never done before.  Bridget reappeared still confused about his reaction and he explained all that had occurred.  He explained how wrong he was for not helping more around the house.  How wrong he was for not appreciating the work that she does both at home and at her job.  How he would do better and that he would constantly cherish her and their kids.  He did all of this explaining while remaining on his knees because he wanted her to know how serious he was about what he was promising.

It was one of the best gifts that any husband could ever give a wife and she knew he was quite serious because she knew that when he made a promise nothing could stop him from achieving it.  She looked at him with sincere understanding and reminded him that she always work late on Thursdays.  She also reminded him of something that had not crossed his mind at all.  He never took off his jacket and what he was describing was nothing more than a very vivid dream.