Remarkable Husbands

Yesterday I had conversations with two husbands who both said remarkable things.

The first one was with my neighbour who is in his 70's.  He said that, when faced with a decision, a woman was perfectly capable of  coming to her own conclusion, but that when she has made the decision she often lacks conviction.  "That's where I come in."  He said.  "By supporting my wife's decision I give her the confidence of her convictions." 
I thought this was a really lovely picture of a marriage.  Here is a husband who respects his wife's abilitys, is conscious of her limitations and helps her in a way which builds her up.  He doesn't take over her decisions for her, but helps her retain and strengthen her autonomy.  

The second conversation was on facebook with the husband of a good friend of mine of a similar age.
I had put out a general feeler message to see if anyone was interested in coming to New Zealand with me on a short break.  This husband volunteered his wife to go away on a holiday without him and the kids because, "she deserves it."  I was really impressed.  I have often been surprised at the amount of consideration between them.  How lovely for a husband to acknowledge that his wife is doing a really good job, especially when things have been a bit tough for them lately.  How gracious of him to not only acknowledge his wife's efforts, but to reward them in a way that will mean so much to her.


On a side note, I was looking up 'lovely' in the thesaurus and one of the synonyms was 'pulchritudinous'.  Seems a strange word to use when referring to a woman's beauty.