The REAL Difference Between Men & Women

I’m a about a week post-partum and it wasn’t the labor and delivery of my second child that has surprised me the most.  It is my second time around after all.  No, indeed.  I’ve found the REAL difference between men and women. It’s not Venus and Mars, it’s how men and women take care of each other.Here is what I mean.  The first few days I was home from the hospital it was just my husband and father who took care of me, the new baby and my two year-old daughter.  While my husband kindly fetched water, made meals and held the baby , my father held the baby, entertained our eldest and took her to school.  Dishes and laundry piled up.  Food depleted and our pantry and refrigerator began to take on a recession look of its own.  Meals consisted of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and giant breakfasts made for champions.  Champions of sugar, salt and fat that is.  So while the house felt held together I slowly began to feel like I was not. 

Then my mother flew in and in a matter of an hour a salad was served.  Our first greens in a almost a week  that I didn’t have to make.  Laundry was started and dishes were done and it wasn’t me doing it.  The pantry was restocked and when someone bought brie it came with crackers.  Not just a block of cheese to be gnawed on.  Wine was even served.  My house felt like a resort had taken up residence.  My mother was the manager and my father the entertainment. 

Don’t get me wrong. I enjoyed cracking open a beer with my father in the evening.  I liked how he woke up before everyone else and fed the dog and made coffee.  Our daughter was never late for school either.  Yet, the house felt oddly cold.  With me nursing a massive head cold, working on three hours of sleep a night and nursing my stitched up nether regions there wasn’t much classic style nurturing going on.  I am sure that if my mother was the only one around my kid would never had made it to school on time and while the house would have been spotless, my two year-old would have had a lot of pent up energy. 

Men know the bare necessities it seems and women know the details.   Combined they are fantastic! Alone they are both a bit lacking.   This week my family gets the full treatment and I could not feel more blessed and thankful.