Adequate Peppers

It isn’t like I imagined that when I got married I would become super wife and I would suddenly know how to do laundry, decorate my house and know how to cook. Except that I did. I totally did. And that, my friends, is why three weeks into marriage with the most amazing man, I was feeling completely and wholly inadequate. The throw pillows were still bare because I couldn’t decide which fabric to use. The windows were lacking their willowy curtains that I have to make because, #craftywifegoals. I had yet to start a load of laundry because Peter would get to it before I could. The adorable and colorful photo collage that will adorn our living room wall consisted of a mismatched heap of 90’s wood frames from the thrift store that are far from their dream of glamour. I don’t shop at organic food stores and I don’t even grocery shop that much because up to that point the only homemade meal I had tried resulted in burnt rice AND burnt chicken. If it wasn’t eating out, it was mac and cheese. The mac and cheese of defeat. A noodle drain of super wife power. An artificial cheese pour of inadequacy.

Which is why this meal became so important. My dear, sweet, former-chef, husband filled the room with compliments over these stuffed peppers. He didn’t stop showering the praises of my cooking even until after the leftovers were packed away into tomorrows lunch bags. These stuffed peppers would be considered minimalists beside any recipe on the first 3 pages of a “stuffed bell pepper recipe” search on Google. But Peter made me feel like they belonged in the fanciest of restaurants where they serve tiny portions of deserts with chocolate drizzled on the whole plate. He reminded me that I work 40 hours a week, that I’ve done an good job on the house so far, that he believes in me and my ability to improve, and that we’ve only been married to 3 weeks (you think I would have considered that already!). He helped me to see the good through the bad and after that meal all the comparisons left and I felt adequate.