Sunday, June 15, 2008

Fathers Day Tribute

I once had a massage at a place in town, it was so freaking good that, as Sister Mary Elephant said, "I felt like I got properly laid." Quite funny, but true. I left that session feeling like I could fly, feeling great emotionally and energized physically.

When I heard that this awesome place was having an essay contest for Father's Day to win a deserving Dad a 1 hour massage, I knew I had to enter. If I felt as good as I did after only 1/2 hour, I can't imagine what an hour would do for someone. Especially my tired and over worked husband. So I wrote and rewrote and finally submitted my piece a few hours before the deadline. And this is what I wrote.


My husband is in dire need of relaxation. He works incredibly hard to provide for our family at the expense of his health, body and time with his family. This time away from us especially weighs on him. Every day that he is away from us he feels like he is trading precious time, for money. I tell him his money is providing our livelihood and paying our bills but the guilt still weighs on him.

He works very hard, often working 14 ½ hour days at least twice a week. Every other weekend we hardly see him at all. He works from 8am Saturday morning till 10:30 pm then turns around the next day and goes in to open the place at 5am. This schedule drains him, beating him down and making him very tired by the time it comes to Sunday night. Then he has to get up and work from 8am till 10:30 on Monday. I truly don't know how he does it.

We try to compensate for this lack of time by shoving everything we can into the weekends he is home, but I fear that just drains him all the more. He truly has no down time, no time to himself. Every moment that he has free is spent with me and our children, he takes nothing for himself. He spends no time or money on himself. If you want to read what his typical weekend is like, click this link to read exactly what he does every day.

My husband is amazing. He's an amazing man, husband, friend and most importantly, father. He himself grew up without a father, or rather, four awful fathers that didn't stick around very long. Not having a father around him made him all the more determined to be the father he wished he always had. The father he never had a chance to have. I find his patience, love and the guidance of our children amazing. A man who grew up in chaos is a loving rock of stability for our family; he is this without having had anyone to learn from. He parents from his heart and his heart is filled with goodness.

We have been married for nearly 11 years, been parents for 4 and he is truly the love of my life, my partner and my best friend. A massage would not only be a great gift for him, but it would help him therapeutically. It would give him the time and relaxation his body and spirit need to continue being a great husband, father and employee. Please consider JimmyEW.

...and guess what? I won! Or rather, he did!

Happy Father's Day to all you dads out there (especially you Wade, our one constant male reader! ;) ). Hope you have a great one!
Below is a video I made for him for Father's Day two years ago, just after Sawyer was born. I LOVE it.




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13 comments:

Anonymous said...

THANK YOU LOVE!!!
I can't wait to have an HOUR long massage. How cool is that?

But thanks more for the kind words. I am blessed by this great family that God has charged me with and I thank Him every day for that.

Thanks!

Alison said...

Congratulations, JimmyEW! After the second paragraph I was praying that you won--you deserve it!

Anonymous said...

Thanks hairline fracture. Actually when Sister Sassy gave me the letter to read, I handed it back to her after the second paragraph and jokingly said this is just depressing me.
Thanks!

Ashlee said...

Sassy...your gift totally beat mine. Not that it's a contest or anything....

And JEW...go enjoy your massage! Though, if Sassy felt "properly laid" after hers...isn't it a bit wierd that she'd want you to go and have the same thing done to you by another woman? Hmm.... :0)

Sister Sassy said...

Ash, they do have a boy that does Massage. Sister HB had him when she went-she said he was great.

However, I think I want JIm to go to the same girl I did. She was amazing!

Ashlee said...

I don't think I could have a guy massage me. I would totally be wierded out by that. :0) Maybe because I'm naked under all those towels. :0) I do loves me a good massage though. I haven't had one in years. They are amazing! I'm so jealous!

Anonymous said...

I've had a massage by a man. It really wasn't any different than one by a woman except it was a bit deeper massage than I wanted. I was angry for a few days afterwards.

Congrats JEW on your massage. I should've gotten my husband one, as opposed to the nothing I got him (not even a card). Awful.

Anonymous said...

Thats ok jane, I honestly think that the heartfelt letter that she typed up for the contest was the best. And the second best gift was the movie she made with a song and pictures of me and the boys for fathers day back in 05. Just give him a solid pat on the back, and that means more than a store bought gift anyday. And its still fathers day until monday.....

sister Aquanetta said...

Soo cool. Jim, you deserve it.

Helena said...

That was such an adorable video clip. I felt like peeping when I watched it but I just had to. You know, we are family lookalikes. Especially your husband and firstborn look very much like mine.

Sounds unfair that he has to work so much. We have relatives and friends in the US and it sounds unbelievable to me how much they have to work and how little they have vacation. My husband works for the government (he's a secret agent) and he gets at least 5 weeks vacation per year and works max 45 hours per week.

He's also a hard-working man and a devoted father so I really respect him even though I tend to joke about him in my blog.

And a massage is best by a man with big hands and a strong soft touch. I giggled all the way but it was heaven. :-)

(I marathoncommented again...)

Sister Sassy said...

Thanks Aquanetta and Helena :) lol about your man massage. The girl I went to did accupressure and I felt like she was putting her fingers right inside my back where it hurt. It was heaven!

Jen said...

Sassy, I'm sure the massage will be wonderful for JimmyEW, but I'm betting the words will be even better.

What a lovely tribute to your very dear guy.

Martha said...

Wow.

That video was great!