I want to talk about someone that I don’t talk about too often, not because he doesn’t mean much because he is the biggest piece of the puzzle of my life. Without his support, patience, encouragement, without his constant reality checks that make me touch ground (because I live in the clouds), I wouldn’t be the wife that I am; the mother that I am; the professional that I am and the friend that I am.

Together we have built our family, our home. We both share the responsibilities of the house, the chores, the 3 a.m. bottle and diaper change, the cooking, the laundry – everything.

He is always there. He is so involved in our family and that just makes my heart full. I wouldn’t do it any other way.

I want to talk about this today because I feel the need to show the world that there are involved fathers and husbands out there. It seems not many of us talk about our guys. Maybe we think it is still taboo to mention them? Maybe we’re worried about their reputation – or maybe we’re afraid other guys will laugh at them for being too involved?

I see it in my community, with my friends, with the dads that pick up their kids at school, the dad that goes grocery shopping with his kids and the dads that I have seen getting a pedicure with their daughters (how cute is this?).

So why does this era never talk about what a good job dad is doing? Because we don’t want our friends to envy us? Because we don’t want to embarrass our husbands for the good job they do by washing the dishes or doing laundry? 

Or is it because we feel ashamed if we say “my husband helped me with this,” when inside we feel we are the ones who should be doing it? We are in 2016 and we still have this chip in our minds of women doing the house work and man will provide the bread… no matter how much we have advanced as a society, we still think that way.

It happens even to me! With all the things I am telling you, how we share everything in the house, I feel that guilt, I feel bad when I see my husband doing laundry one day. I feel ashamed now that he makes better salmon than me.

And for this reason and for the fear of getting misinterpreted I have not written about this. It’s been on my mind for a long time now, so I finally decide to write it and sent it to my husband to see what he thinks about it and if he was OK for me to talk about him.

He liked it – he was 100% on it.

I have to say, I am so proud of him, and so happy that our son and daughter will grow up in this environment of equality and shared responsibilities. I hope this will be their norm when they are ready to have their own family.

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Beatriz Olmedillo

My name is Beatriz Olmedillo. I am originally from Maracaibo, Venezuela but moved to Houston, Texas 7 years ago with my husband for my job as an engineer in a large engineering company where I currently work. I have a 2 1/2 year old daughter and a newborn (2 months old). As a new mom my life is changing and I am in the search of redefining the purpose of my life, rediscovering and prioritizing things. Follow my journey.

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