HE SAID....

Tony Walker

 My He Said for this week may be called "He Bitched" instead.

When Hurricane Irene was knocking on Long Island's door my wife went to the phone booth & put on her Superwoman outfit. 

She is a member of The Red Cross so she spent the day before the hurricane at a shelter in New Hyde Park. She then came home for a few hours & by 7PM that Saturday night she was in our town's (Wantagh) shelter.

My wife spent the night there, sat through the hurricane there, & didn't come home until 330pm that Sunday afternoon.

So there I am at home comforting 2 kids, one of them autistic & the other ADHD, making sure the house is secure, checking on the dog, etc.

From all the hype & fear the media spread my daughter was pretty scared. My son wasn't too bad but he was concerned about mommy not being home at such a dangerous time. 

My wife's parents kept calling... my mother kept calling... my wife's best friend kept calling.... "She's not home yet??? She should be home with her family!!! Is she crazy??? When will she be back???" Ah shut up!

The last thing I need is people bitching at me. 

I'm conflicted. More than anything else I am very proud of my wife for volunteering so many hours to help other people. But I admit there is a part of me that thinks she should've been home with her family. Luckily we were not hit that hard. But what if we were? I remember one time our power went off at night from a storm. Our daughter flipped. She needs to be comforted almost constantly. How would I have comforted her & handled a tough situation at the same time? 

I was also mad because we had some plans on Saturday that we ended up not doing because of her not being around. This also upset our daughter quite a bit.

I keep fighting with myself... A part of me wants to say, "Stay home woman!" Another part is saying, "Shut up you chauvinistic dope. Let her go & be proud!" 

Tell us what you think. Do we handle our situations at home before we tend to others or should we all run out to do our part no matter what?