Ode To A Modern Husband

I had one of those "where did you FIND him?!" conversations with a perfect stranger today. You know, the kind where some woman makes a comment about how men (in general) act, and how they Never Do This or Always Do That? I'm often in the position of either smiling weakly and excusing myself to get on with my day, thinking about my own husband and how glad I am that Mr. O is not like that, or, sometimes I'll gently disagree with an "I don't know... My husband does at least half the housework, and he's an amazing parent in his own right... It's like having another mom in the household..."

I chose the latter today and left my utter stranger chatmate completely dumbfounded. Granted, she was about 20 years older than I am, so it was partially a generational thing, but I do believe that there are a lot of terrific men out there.

I get so tired of hearing women complain about men, the way people like to complain about traffic or bad weather, just to make conversation. I know a lot of great men: husbands, fathers, boyfriends, uncles, grandpas, friends. Yes, there are a lot of jerks out there, but same goes for the womenfolk too.

I guess stereotypes in general get on my nerves. Mr. O defies stereotypes:

He drives an old pickup truck with the radio station set to a country station...
...but most days he bikes to work, five miles each way. And when he gets home, he's likely to turn on NPR.

He loves Fluffernutter sandwiches...
...but he makes tamales from scratch, does a LOT of our family's cooking, and has been a vegetarian for most of his life.

He loves his workshop and his power tools...
...but he also knows how to knit a scarf.

He likes NASCAR...
...but his favorite sport is tennis. Golf might be vying for that top spot lately, though.

He once told me (before we actually started dating, many years ago) that he thought feminism was a "crock of shit"...
...but then he become one! (a feminist, that is. not a crock of shit.)

Mr. O does wonderful things. He gets off his bike on his morning commute to go rescue turtles when he sees them trying to cross a road. He has been known to help injured wildlife, bringing them to the Wildlife Center of Virginia. He is a strict label-reading vegetarian, but he doesn't say a word when a friend of his orders meat. Mr. O is a terrific man. He is sweet, kind, funny, smart, fun, patient, loving, forgiving, and rock-solid. He's politically progressive, fiercely pro-choice, opposed to racism, sexism, heterosexism, classism, and so on. He's an awesome cook. He can fix things. He's a good friend: honest, loyal, and easygoing. He's curious, adventurous, and stable, all at once. He gets bashful when I tell stories about him, so I'm limited in how I can illustrate these qualities, but take my word for it. He's a gem.

I feel really lucky to be spending my life with him. And gosh golly, I just wanted to say all that.