Keeper
I could easily read the disdain in the smirks, the eyebrows already creeping up their foreheads to follow up my answer to their question with what they figured would be their next line — that their assumptions had been right all along. “So,” began the inquisitors sarcastically, “did IP have a clean apartment waiting for you, dinner on the table, ready to make sure you didn’t have to do anything after you’d been at work all day?” The guffaws nearly started then until I shut them down cold.
“Actually, yes!” I’d answer, smiling brilliantly, putting my arm around IP. “The house was immaculate and he made great dishes all week. Friday he did the laundry. He even hit the gym more than a few times this week — I’d come home to a clean apartment, folded clothes, wonderful dinner and buff boyfriend. I have got to figure this house husband thing out! He loves to cook, he doesn’t mind cleaning — it’d be perfect.”
So as IP’s vacation comes to an end, one thing keeps echoing in my mind: play the lottery or get a higher paying job in order to make him my trophy husband!
However, I must add that this is IP being IP. He’s obviously a keeper for more reasons than the past week, but disproving their notions and expectations of my boyfriend felt very rewarding. To him, things like housework and cooking aren’t divisible by gender — it’s all about sharing responsibility in everything, which is refreshing and one of the things that makes our relationship work so well. We never forget that we’re a team and on the same side, be it with housework or with the challenges that are thrown at us. I do definitely have a keeper on my hands.
