Every So Often You Do Something Right

Even though Christmas is still a few weeks away, we're starting to hear those Year In Review reports. From the government to entertainment to retail sales, we'll be treated to long lists of who had hits and who had misses, who married and who broke up, who had babies and who died. In short, who won, and who lost.

For this year, I think I can safely say I won.

No, not a book contract or a new house or a promotion for hubby, but something that counts a little more. My daughter was talking to her dad and her brother as I was cooking dinner last night and I heard this:

"Dad, I just know I'm not going to be one of those girls who lets guys treat her like crap. I want more, because I've seen how you treat mom."

Slam. Dunk.

I stirred and heated and poured while blinking the tears out of my eyes, listening to my man tell his children his responsibilities to them, and to me, knowing that none of what he said was a surprise because they've seen it lived before them from the moment they were born.

I know that my daughter is going to demand that she be treated like a lady, and won't settle for less. No boy is going to abuse her, mentally or emotionally or physically, trash talk her, use the B-word as an endearment, or use guilt or threats to get her to do something she doesn't want to do. She knows she is worth more than a guy who sits at the curb and honks, expecting her to come running. She knows she is worth more than a boy who will pull out the old "if you love me you will" argument. She knows, because her father has never treated me that way.

I know that my son is respectful to women, and will never think it is his right to get physical because his date may wear a mini-skirt. He knows that it will be his responsibility to get his date home before her curfew, not to convince her to disobey and leave her to face the music. He knows that it is dishonorable to call any woman a name that reduces her to the status of an object. He knows he must treat the woman in his life as a precious treasure. He knows, because his father treats me that way.

In spite of money that's always too short and bills that are always too long, jobs you don't like and houses you aren't fond of, and all the myriad things that can go wrong in a day, you still win. I have. I married "up." And I'm supremely grateful for it.