I don't have to worry about the same things that Ward does. I don't have to do the things he does. I don't have to be well-versed and strong at all the things that are needed to run our family. I have him, he is my partner. He has his strengths and I have mine. I can lean on him for those things that I cannot easily accomplish, the things that frustrate me. All I have to do is open my hands and offer it to him.
If I try to hold on too tightly, I will begin to spin out of frustration. I will become short with the children and feel pressured by his requests. I will become overloaded. I will rob us of an opportunity to be closer because I am floundering with a task that is better suited to his talents.
If, instead, I support him in other areas as he performs those things which challenge me, with things that come easier, and support him, support us as a couple, and our family, I am completing him, and we are both happier. We work as a unit, a well-oiled machine and things get accomplished, mountains are moved, we are stronger and we have time then to really connect heart-to-heart.
I am his equal in my value within our relationship, but I am not his equal, nor is he mine. I would like to suggest that 'equality' is a misunderstood concept. If we examine the definition, which says that equality is the symmetry of behavior in an interaction of a physical entity (as a subatomic particle) with that of its mirror image. And we look further to symmetry to find that it is a sense of harmonious and beautiful proportion and balance..... ahhhhhh.....balance - to bring into harmony.
When we complete each other, we come into balance, leaning on and supporting each other, becoming something greater and even more beautiful than we could ever be alone.
HIS POV: Teamwork is such a hugely important part of our lives. June and I have learned that balancing our strengths and bolstering each other where we need it is the very best way for us to proceed. I am her equal in our relationship in that my contributions matter just as much as hers do, I am not her equal in certain skills, and projects and nor is she mine. However, knowing each other this deeply, this intimately, it allows us to tap into our deepest most supportive selves and solve any problems with aplomb. True strength is not taking on the whole load by oneself, or feeling like equality is everything... true strength is balance, symmetry, and the light that they bring.
