My husband and I sometimes fail to comply with the gender stereotypes presented to us by society. For example, one evening a few years back, he practiced the piano while I installed our new dishwasher. He didn’t offer to help and I didn’t ask. He deeply appreciates my willingness to take on home-improvement projects and feels no compulsion to rescue me or take over. Frankly, he’s relieved.
The two of us individuated from traditional gender norms long before we got married. I played competitive sports from kindergarten through college and then worked in the male-dominated field of news and sports photography for nearly two decades. During high school, he opted for chorus and theater. To this day, he feels more at ease on a stage with a microphone than on a court with any type of spherical object. In fact, after years of basketball games with our sons, his layups still resemble Fred Astaire with a charley horse.
To read more about how my husband and I have come to appreciate our inherent differences and learn to have Jesus tell us who we are, click this link to Relevant Magazine.
This article is an excerpt from my new book, Making Marriage Beautiful. You can download chapter one from my site.