Maintenance Man Monday: The Rough

My husband is hard on his clothes.

 

This was, at one time, a coat. Believe it or not.

Notice how you can see the fluffy stuff coming through the inside lining.

And this is the sleeve of said coat. If we can call it that anymore.

Like I said, my husband is hard on his clothes.

But you know what? That's okay. Sure, I do have quite the pile in my mending basket most weeks, and yes, there are times that I really wish that we spent more money on shoes for me than we do boots for him (he typically needs a new pair of boots every 3 months or so).

All those torn, stained, caulk splattered clothes should make me think about is how hard my husband works. When he's changing the oil in the camp vehicles, he doesn't stop to make sure that he doesn't spill oil on his pant leg, he just gets the job done. Those tears in the elbow of his coat are from working cattle on his family's farm. The worn sections in the knees of almost every pair of jeans are from crawling under buildings to check water lines, kneeling to fix plumbing, and weeks of bending to repair electrical sockets.

Sure, sometimes I wish I could just toss out old jeans or coats instead of repairing them, but the fact that my husband is hard on his clothes is a chance for me to practice being frugal, to practice my stitching, to practice patience, to practice gratitude for all we have and to work on being good stewards of our resources.

My husband is rough with his clothing- my challenge is to find the diamonds in the rough.