Generosity

​I’ve been exhausted recently. Edward started a new job, and between his long hours and travel I have been solo parenting for the better part of a month. I noticed it especially this week—the edginess, the short-temper. I needed a break.
 
But that is the problem with a demanding career. When Edward gets home, he is exhausted too. He needs sleep, relaxation, and often just gets sick because the stress is unending. There’s not a lot of space for reprieve for either of us.

Today, he flew back into Germany from the States. He missed his next connection and had to train the rest of his way home. He then went straight to the office for an entire work day. I knew he must be wiped. To top it off, he had a mandatory dinner work function in the evening.  I likely wouldn't see him until I was crawling into bed.

Late afternoon, I took the girls to swimming lessons. We are about a twenty-minute walk and I like not driving. Except as were leaving, I saw the rain.
​It was Sound of Music rain. The kind that is heavy, unrelenting. 

We sat down on a bench, all of us tired and hungry, and I heard my phone’s text alert.
 
I’m just hopping in the shower. I’ll switch cars and come pick you up. Then go to my dinner thing.
 
I was so surprised. The jet lag, the hours, the driving. This man was at the end, but still had the kind of heart to be concerned for his wife walking home in the rain.

​Edward showed up, collected us, delivered us home, and turned around again. He was late to his dinner and didn’t get home until after 9pm.
 
But I was incredibly touched. I’ve been running on survival mode and I know he has been too. Yet still, Edward thought of me. It made me remember that even when one is exhausted and run down, one can still show love. In fact, it is an even more remarkable generosity when one has so little.

And gosh, I needed to be reminded of that.