Great Turned Out to Be Average

Published May 31, 1984. I received a lot of mail on the column I wrote two weeks ago about Mother’s Day. In case you missed it. I extolled my virtues for cooking and doing all the dishes as a gift for my wife.

Many readers who wrote gently chided me for being such an average husband. Well, what can I say? I must admit I am a better-than-average husband. In fact, I’m just a bit short of perfection. But how can I say that in print? When we first met, Susan was immediately attracted to my humility. And it’s difficult to be humble when you are such a great guy . . . (By the way, she won’t be proof-reading today’s column. There will probably be no need this time.)

So much for what kind of husband I am. It is obvious from the mail I received that there are many better than I, if that’s possible. Demas Jackson of Provo, for example, wrote “Welcome to the better-than-average husbands club! But I must admit, I was surprised to hear you just joined. My wonderful husband Jim has given me Mother’s Day off for all our married life together – nine years. He also does the cooking and dish washing on Sundays because he feels that he gets weekends off work and I don’t. So, to top himself on Mother’s Day, he not only does all the work, but he fixes my favorite foods, and we do whatever I want.”

Jody Arbuckle of Bountiful wrote in glowing terms of her husband Lynn and his efforts on Mother’s Day. She stated, “The biggest surprise came from my husband, who had taken one child shopping and bought Mom an eight-piece set of dishes. He also bought Colonel Sander’s chicken and for Mother’s Day reheated it and served it on matched plates. This was the first Mother’s Day I haven’t had to cook a big meal and actually got to rest and enjoy the children! My husband cleaned up the kitchen after dinner, did the dishes, and let me spend time with the kids.

Apparently, Don Sorensen of Sandy is also a pretty good husband. His wife, Jacki, dropped me a note saying, “After reading your column, I had to write about my wonderful husband Don. He also cooked for me on Mother’s Day, and it was the very best gift I have received. Not only did he help, but my three children caught the spirit and fixed up the table like a restaurant, complete with flowers and candles and played music on the radio. It was the most pleasant meal we have all shared in a long while and a day I’ll always treasure.”

I was starting to think that only young husbands (not that I am really young, mind you) were macho enough to cook for their wives. (Real men may not eat quiche, but they should know how to bake it.) Well, not so. Iva Osguthorpe wrote about her husband Wesley, to whom she has been married for 44 years. Iva wrote, “After marriage, Wesley helped me cook from the beginning. He loves it and does it well. Some things I do better, but he excels in many things. He has always helped me with the dishes, and after the dishwasher came in, he insisted that he load it. Of course, I sometimes get an inferiority complex, but I’ve decided I like it.”

Christy Probst of West Jordan wrote about her husband Jeff. She noted, “I read your comments about taking responsibility for house chores on Mother’s Day, and I marvel that I have someone who shares these responsibilities every day, not just one day a year.”

Kathy Ritzman of Salt Lake also said of her husband Lee, “Husbands? Mine’s the greatest, Mother’s Day and all 364 other days during the year.”

Nice to know there are such good husbands in our area.