My Man, My Muscle

"In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church." Ephesians 5:28-29

"Now ladies if you got a man and he treat you real good
Ain't you gonna flex every chance that you get?
Mary J. Blige

I've been threatening to write about my husband for quite some time.

It has been six months since he rallied the troops ( a puny green wife and a perpetually stoned superintendent) to move our belongings down the sticky marble steps of our walk up tenement and into the back of a disturbingly Manhattan priced moving truck.

Since the 1200 miles and through an equal amount of vomiting episodes, he has worked tirelessly in scrubbing, moving, hanging, yanking, designing, clipping, painting, and constructing to make our house a home. He's fought the roaches and won, worn out the stairs to the attic, and remained steadfast in answering my daily question of what's for dinner?

Besides attending every appointment, he has soldiered up and smiled when I exclaimed yes to natural childbirth and signed my rights away to most unnecessary medical interventions, knowing full well he married an iconoclast.

He's dutifully engaged in a nine week class, agreed with me in marveling at the miracles of the uterus and breast, and repeatedly told me (his big mama) that my bulging belly and rippling thighs are beautiful and we should take pictures.

He has shouldered the hormone surges, name calling, and blubbering F bomb spells that rear their head at four in the morning. He has rubbed my back and headed into the guest room night after night to give me and my ampleness some space.

He has encouraged me to wear my uniform of XL turquoise sweats from morning to night, jumped at the chance to use his God given semen to "soften my cervix" and waited patiently while this baby hippo hoisted and willed myself up onto the bed and into the mood.

But last night his devotion as a partner and soon to be father took on a new level when he propped me up on pillows, regulated my breathing, greased up his hands, and administered the perineum massage.

If you don't know....google it.

Now, is that true love?


Thank you Baby!  I couldn't and wouldn't do it without you.