I Deserve a Break Today

I did my fair share of partying in college.  Living in a fraternity, every night was Guys Night.  I've had my fill of beer bongs, keg stands, and six-in-the-morning-runs-to-Taco-Bell.  That part of my life is over.  I have to admit, at the time it was A LOT of fun.  I made some great friends and thoroughly enjoyed myself.  But again, that lifestyle is in the past for me and I refuse to live in the past.

I think a lot of men get hung up on the old days of "freedom".  They carry this hangup into their marriage and family life.  It rears its ugly head in the phrases, "I just need a night out with the guys!" or "I'll be out late, don't wait up for me."  Sure, this kind of attitude may work in college, or even after college while living in a bachelor pad but when it comes to marriage and family this attitude is completely incongruent with reality.  This constant tension between the old single life and the current responsible life proves too much for some men.  But it doesn't have to be this way.  A new attitude is the antidote.

The old way of life needs to be left behind.  It's over.  It's fun to recall in your mind's eye those rascally nights of closing the bar down and then looking for the perfect street sign to steal but that needs to stay in memory.  Marriage and family requires responsibility.  It requires a man to step up and grow up.  My wife is my best friend.  My children are my fun.  I don't yearn for nights out with the guys or pitchers of Pabst with the co-workers.  Happiness is at home.  I am perfectly content with our nightly routine of getting the kids to bed and watching The Bachelorette with a bowl of Slow Churned.  I love brushing my teeth with my wife and then falling asleep next to her.  Those are the memories I want twenty years from now.  I don't want to look back and remember stumbling through the front door at one in the morning, the wife awake in bed quietly yelling at me and wincing at the smell of my stale beer breath.  My children are only young once so missing out on weekend mornings with them due to a hangover is out of the question.

A man's idea of "fun" has to change.  Fun is family.  Fun is being an equal partner to your wife.  When a man finally comes to this realization he begins to grow up and comes one step closer to becoming a Hybrid Husband.

Peace Out,

Nathan J.