Parenting can feel like a ten person job, and unfortunately, the one thing most parents need is also the hardest thing for them to ask for: help. Even if you're lucky enough to have a partner, it doesn't always mean that you have the support you need when you need it. But instead of continuing to struggle on her own, one mom spoke up and was brave enough to tell her husband exactly what she was thinking.
Nikki Pennington is a mom of three, and on a hectic morning she decided to get real with her significant other and say out loud the one sentiment that many women swallow: “I need you today.”
She shared on her Facebook page that during the 13 years they've been together, she hasn't said these four words nearly enough. But on this day, she made it clear as her husband was leaving for work. "He could hear in my tone that there was something different about the way I said it so he stopped dead in his tracks," she wrote. "The day had barely begun but I today I wanted him to know he was needed."
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"He was needed for the comfort that only he could give when the weight of the world felt like it was on my shoulders," she continued. "He was the one I needed to pick up the phone on the other end so I could tell him about things that matter and things that don’t from my day."
Like many women, Pennington needs her husband to be there, still be present when he's not, and able to anticipate her needs before the weight of everything completely crushes her. "He was the one I needed to walk through that door just as I was feeling like I was about to break and be the one to help put me back together again," she wrote. "He is the one I need to look over and find standing by my side when world feels like it’s throwing me more than I can handle."
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But Nikki doesn't just need her husband when things start to feel overwhelming, she also needs him for the moments in between. "He is the one I need to come home to everyday and fall asleep with every night," she wrote. "I need him to be my forever best friend, the father of my children, the one who would move the heavens and earth to see me smile."
So instead of hoping that he could read her mind during the busy morning — and resenting him if he didn't — Nikki took the direct approach and doesn't regret it. "Today I made sure to tell him I needed him, and not for a few minutes to vent about my day, but today and everyday."
