There have been many great dairy breeding partnerships in the history of the dairy breed. On the top of that list many would place Pete Heffering and Ken Trevena (Read more: Hanover Hill Holsteins). However, one partnership I think many forget about is the one they have with their wife or husband. On most dairy farms and in every marriage the most important partnership in the world is the one with the spouse.
When was the last time you thought of your wife or husband as your “partner”? Dictionary.com defines partnership as, “the state or condition of being a partner (Partner: a person who shares or is associated with another in some action or endeavor; sharer; associate.); participation; association; joint interest. Most often we think of partnership when we think of business or law. But the idea of a partnership is also applicable to our marriages. Today I celebrate my seventh wedding anniversary and it very much has me thinking deeply about how much my wife, Zosia, is the perfect partner for me.
I know a lot of people don’t bother to mark every anniversary and holidays such as Valentine’s day sometimes get bad press with the cynics protesting that if couples are truly in love then this should be reflected in their daily lives rather than requiring a special holiday to remind them to tell each other how much they mean to each other. But for me, since my wife deals with my BS every other day of the year, the least I can do is express how I feel about her on this special day.
While I try to show my wife how much I appreciate her every day, let’s face it, with the pressures of modern life, it is difficult to maintain the initial flush of romance on an ongoing, long term basis. After 7 years of being with the same person a much of the mystery is gone, you have fewer “firsts” to look forward to and you will have had to deal with times of difficulty and hardship together as this is a part of life.
In many ways my wife and I could not be more opposite. We kid that if we had met in high school we would have hated each other. I was the jock who skipped class and loved to party. She was the nerd who even asked the teachers for permission to skip school on national skip day. However, as we matured (mostly me, Zosia was already pretty mature) we changed and now have become the perfect complement for each other and ready to take on life’s challenges.
Over the past week I have had the amazing opportunity to go back to where we got married and take some time off to spend with my wife. Awesome. It re-energized me to take on the world. But I must admit, as I watch our extremely energetic and defiant kids run around, I sometime tease my wife that she must have falsely advertised her genetics, After all, I chose her partly due to her ability to corrective mate those faults out of our children. That’s the joking part. (Read more: How I Used Everything I Know About Animal Breeding to Choose My Wife). Seriously, I could not be more proud of her and the family that we have started.
The Bullvine Bottom Line
I can tell you all, that without a very supportive and understanding wife, The Bullvine would have never existed. A fully supportive, loving, trusting wife who will be honest and speak her mind but who will also stand with her husband to the very end frees a man up to do with all his heart that which he desires to achieve. Zosia does just that for me. While she may not be a cattle breeding expert, or even from a dairy farm, nevertheless she loves me and supports me in all the weird and wacky things that I do. For that I can only quote Elvis and say to Zosia, “Love me tender, Love me true, all my dreams fulfilled. For my darlin’ I love you, And I always will.”
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Lovely and yes many people do not see their spouse as a partner and even have a very adversarial relationship with them. Both men and women will gather and complain about their spouses to each other. Partners are just like you said: they complement each other, support each other and make life much much sweeter.
I am the wife of a Dairy Farmer who grew up in a really big city. I love that my husband loves what he does. I read here because I too fell in love with the cows and by reading here I have interesting conversations with my husband.
Thanks for the great and thought provoking articles.