5 Ways My Husband Inspires Me Every Day

I’ve had a handful of guest posts before from an assortment of amazing people. But none quite like this one!

My beautiful and amazing wife surprised me this morning by writing the best guest post I’ve ever had or will ever have. So without further ado, here are 5 Ways My Husband Inspires Me Every Day:

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My husband David (Yitzchak) and I have been together for two years now. In fact, not too long ago, he officially became my longest relationship ever. A milestone he’d been waiting for, well, for about two years.

The honeymoon phase in a relationship lasts about six months, at least that’s what my quick Google search informed me. So we’re well past that stage. I think we are actually closer to the stage where it’s easier to take things for granted.

Of course I’ll be making him natural homemade deodorant and of course he’ll be making me a hot water bottle when my stomach gets finicky. And of course... so many “of courses”. And between all of the “of courses” I sometimes stop myself to take a moment to admire this person standing in front of me and the many ways he’s inspired me these past two years. In honor of his birthday this past week, I’d love to share a few of them with you all…

1) My Husband and His Open Home

Not long after David and I met, he invited me for Shabbat. I was flattered. I took it as a compliment and… maybe it meant he liked me? Turned out, it wasn’t such an abnormal gesture. Between regular ol’ Shabbat meals, “Shabbat Of A Lifetime” and Couch Surfing, literally hundreds of people had been in and out of his home. Plenty of friends, but mostly complete strangers.

I’m naturally an introvert, and warming up to new people sometimes takes a sip or two of alcohol on my part… but for David? It’s like oxygen for him. He loves any chance to host and any chance to meet a new person. The more different than he is, the better. A thirst and a talent that leaves me in awe every time I see him interact with new people or guests at our home.

2) My Husband and Starting Over

If you’ve been reading this blog for any amount of time now, you know that one thing David had to do was start over. Start everything over. Growing up you imagine what life will be. You imagine getting married, having kids, buying a home, working on and getting great at your career.

And then life happens. 

David indeed got married, had kids, bought a couple of homes, and worked hard on his education career. But then his marriage fell apart, his kids moved overseas, he moved into a small apartment, and he started looking at new career paths. Especially since his new plan was to move to Israel a year later, and teaching in Hebrew was not an option. 

But he did it all with flying colors. He picked up his life, got in shape, found a great job and heck, even remarried (I assure you, it wasn’t on his to-do list). He found a new life and one he really loved. I barely got myself past my breakups. The change he did to his life has always left me amazed. 

3) My Husband, the Avid Exerciser

Our very first conversation went something like this:

Him: Do you not eat Challah? (We were sitting next to each other at a Friday night meal.)

Me: Well, I’m doing a program at the moment called “The Whole 30“, so for the 30 days of the program I’m not eating any grains. I’m not against eating grains, but I’m trying to see if I feel better like this.

Him: The health world is so confusing, one day grains are bad for you, then suddenly they’re fine.

Me: Oh, there are so many foods like that… like dairy. 

Him: Or meat.

Me: Or coconut oil! 

And it continued with us laughing as we listed foods that are good for you one day, and awful for you the next. It was a great moment of discovering our first thing in common: Health and fitness. We later discovered that I care a whole lot more about the “Health” part and he cares a bunch more about “Fitness”.

The kitchen is where I made most of my health changes over the years. However, David discovered how the gym could completely reverse his health and he’s stuck to it ever since.

I’ve always enjoyed dance and movement. But for the past year and a half, I’ve been inspired to push myself much farther. Watching someone who loves fitness so much has gotten me to want completely new goals. Like pull-ups, or L-sits, or the splits. When you watch someone love something so much, it’s easy to start loving it, too. 

4) My Husband and Consistent Small Steps

Once we got past how similar we were, we started noticing our differences. A big one was how differently we approached a project or goal. If I’m doing a project, I go at it all at once and won’t stop until I’m done (hey, kinda like this blogpost!).

But my husband does the complete opposite. He’ll have his big to-do list, with a million things written on it. He’ll do a few minutes of each every day, until all the tasks are completed.

If I were doing a few minutes every day of some bigger goal, that goal would be long forgotten. Also, a long to-do list stresses me out. But he’ll go from stretching to working on learning languages to doing a few dishes to fixing something around the house to cleaning the bathrooms to… well, you get the idea.

I don’t know how he does it, but he does it every day. And he does it really, really well. 

5) My Husband and Family Time

Last but not least, family time. Our evenings kind of have a ritual. It existed before I was in the picture, it’s just changed a bit since. It’s an important and integral part of our days.

We end the evening with a family dinner and a show that we all watch together. Sometimes the evenings shift. Sometimes Shlomo is at Jiu Jitsu, or I’m at a rehearsal (well, pre-Corona days), and the days end a bit differently. But most nights, we’ll make a great dinner, eat it together, clean up together, watch TV together.

I didn’t watch TV every night before marriage. Watching TV together isn’t really about watching TV. It’s about having a shared experience. It’s about the discussion that comes afterwards. It’s about the inside jokes that only we get. When someone does something out of character in our home, we call them a traveler, because it was a premise of one of the best shows we watched together (called, wait for it, “Travelers”. Also, you should totally go watch that show now.) 

All this is during the week, when it’s just the three of us. When we have the girls on Shabbat, we have other family things we love to do, like learning how to do headstands together or going out to the park with Frank, running around, blowing bubbles. I didn’t just marry David; I married a whole family.

Blended families are complex. But it’s been so clear to me since day one that David’s priority is his kids, giving them time and love and a sense of home. And it’s helped us all build something new together. 

There’s so much more to write, like how unbelievably reliable he is, or how he finds humor in every situation, or how insanely funny he is… but maybe that’ll wait until another blog post.

Happy 43rd birthday, Bibbit. To many, many more.