So yesterday I sat down to write a post about the Sleep War and how the husband always wins it.
I was going to regale you with a tale of woe, and moan and bitch how us wives always have to beg and grovel for that elusive lie-in that our husbands simply expect every morning.  Its amazing how shocked they can look when we bring up the possibility that perhaps THEY could arise at sparrows fart with the kids…
Nobody can feign ignorance like the male species, I swear….
I was going to write about how Mr Point Five and I had a blazing argument which resulted in tears and a few doors being slammed.
I had pictures and funny memes all lined up……
1044251_513510822036622_359454844_n
…..and then the phone rang.
For those of you who haven’t read between the thin blue lines, Mr Point Five is a man in a blue uniform in our small country town.  He got a call out to a tragic, God-awful accident on one of our local farms which resulted in the death of a 10 year old child. Amidst the wretchedness, he witnessed a fathers pure grief and anguish and had to help cut away a son’s lifeless body from the car wreckage. The child was on his way to school yesterday morning, and Mr Point Five has his little school bag, complete with cut lunch with him when he came home for a dinner break last night. It was every parents nightmare and I feel so guilty for having such an terrible meaningless argument with this good, good Man just hours before.
I sobbed last night after hubby went back to work after dinner.
More tears, just like my earlier ones of frustration, but these were different; the gut-wrenching pain was palpable, pouring down my face.
They were shed for a family who I had never met and a child I would never meet. A child who would never come home after his Mother kissed him goodbye as he left for school. A Father who had to see his son like that, in the hands of my husband.
I cried tears of shame. Shame that after a day of complete despair and devastation, my husband could come home to the comfort and distraction of his little family, whilst another was permanently left in tatters and shreds, never to be complete again where the pain is inescapable.
My husbands eyes were drained at the end of last night. Drained of anything good and hopeful in this world. He was empty. He had been stoic. He had seen and done things that no Man or Woman should have to, and yet it is his job and he goes without a thought each day, with each phone call. I am so proud of what he does.
What WE do.
 He went in and kissed our boys, who were both asleep. We locked eyes and our thoughts were so sad. So unbelievably sad.
So I sat down and wrote this post instead to remind us all to:
1. Don’t sweat the small stuff – if your husband does something to piss you off, don’t stew on it and waste an entire night and day being unhappy. Men will always be idiots. Tell him, argue about it, demand the win and move on in five minutes, no more.
2. If you are pulled over for speeding or whatever, and you think he or she may not be the nicest person you have ever met, consider what the job was that they attended before meeting you. Even the people who wear blue can have a bad day, and I wouldn’t swap them my bad day for theirs. Not in a million years. Chances are, they had been to a fatal accident as a result of a speeding driver such as yourself. They have seen the possible consequences of our actions. So cut them some slack, swallow your pride, don’t be a dick and eat the fine. Things could be worse.
3. Go cuddle your children. Life can turn on a dime. There is at least one family I know of right now who would give anything to cuddle one of theirs right now.
*crying right now, balancing my two on my lap as I type*