Passing the Baton in Marriage

Posted: 5 years ago

Passing the Baton in Marriage

I passed the baton today.

My kids have different medical issues, so I am at doctor’s offices more than the average parent. But there’s one particular procedure I struggle with every time.

So, I passed the baton.

I’m the stay-at-home parent. I take on most of the day-to-day kid tasks, while my husband is in residency. But today, I mentally couldn’t make it through my role.

So, I passed the baton.

I felt guilty about it this morning. I felt inadequate. I felt I should have just put on my big girl panties and dealt with it. But I forgot about something while in my guilt fog: marriage is team work. We divvy up the responsibilities to keep the team on a winning path. But what we didn’t realize in our first few years together is that sometimes we have to reach over and take some weight off the other’s back even though our own backs are weighed down.

My husband took the baton from me today so I don’t tire out. He took the baton so I can run better tomorrow. And I do the same for him. I let the guilt from earlier go, because I remembered we pass the baton so we can run the race well and run it together.

Jillian Benfield

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