Butter, Beer, and Sex
My husband wrote the title to this blog… well, his original suggestion was actually Butter, Beer and Cock I hope I didn’t just offend or alienate anyone by saying cock, but I thought his suggestion was funny so I had to share. Today we made our first batch of bread from my sourdough starter. When I tried the first piece I couldn’t help but think, this is good, but it would be so much better with butter. So, out came the butter. After smearing the bread with a generous pat of butter it went from good, to REALLY good. I was happy, very happy. “Butter is amazing” I thought to myself. Then I remembered how I didn’t like butter when Bryan and I first started dating. I never put it on toast or bread and rarely used it in cooking – until I met my husband. Bryan opened my eyes to the wonders of butter. And I’m so glad that he did.
Then I started to think about all the other things that my husband has taught me in past six and a half years of being together. So, here’s a little list of just a few of the things that I’ve learned from my husband. My life is so much better because of him!
- Butter is Good! (As stated above)
- Beer is Good! When I met Bryan I didn’t like beer. Bryan decided that he would get me to at least like Guinness if nothing else, so whenever he’d have a Guinness I’d have some for his sake. After a while I started to enjoy those sips and before I knew it I was sharing a beer with him, and not long after we moved to Prague (the beer capitol of the world) I was able to actually enjoy a whole beer on my own. When I got pregnant with Thaddeus I actually missed beer (well, not just any beer – I missed good Czech beer!)
- Sex is Good! Hehe. I won’t go into details, but my husband was my first kiss, so I’ve learned all about this aspect of life from him.
- Music is Good! Ok, I always liked music (I was a choreographer and dancer for a while even), but Bryan opened my eyes and taught me how much great music is really out there. He is always introducing me to new bands and artists and filling our home with music.
- Soy is Bad! I talked about how Bryan taught me this in my post about our Food Philosophy.
Ok, so those are all just silly little things that I can say my husband has influenced in my life. But, the truth is that he has also taught me a lot of really important life lessons. Together we’ve gradually learned how to work through conflict, how to communicate more clearly, and slowly how to set aside our own desires on behalf of the other. Bryan has taught me through his example what it looks like to serve others as he has time and time again selflessly served me. Currently, through his gentle encouragement and steady support, he’s been slowly teaching me to believe in myself, my abilities, and my dreams.
I learn more and more about my husband every day, he is an amazing man with so many gifts and abilities and so much knowledge and insight. But, just as I learn more ABOUT him each day I also get to learn FROM him each day as we experience this life together. That is one of the truly beautiful things about marriage. As we go through life together his likes and dislikes slowly start to become my likes and dislikes, his knowledge and insight slowly starts to become my knowledge and insight. I get to learn from him and grow because of him. Ever so slowly we become one and it’s a beautiful, breath-taking transformation.
What are some things that you’ve learned from your spouse? Or what are some things that you like or dislike now because of your spouse’s influence?
Rejoicing in the journey - Bethany Stedman