This is a compensated review by BlogHer and Gain.
>Some things in life just go together ... matching like a pair of socks or perhaps fitting together like pieces of a puzzle. Then there are those things that are okay alone, but when you put them together ... marvelous! Things like peanut butter and chocolate, guacamole and tortilla chips, Sonny and Cher.
Gain has come up with one of those marvelous pairs - scented laundry detergent with fabric softener, a pairing that makes "perfect scents." But they didn't stop there ... Gain also paired up with BlogHer for yet another marvelous match-up: a chance for you to win a $100 Visa gift card and a set of Gain laundry detergent and fabric softener. Read on to find out how ...
All week I've been trying to figure out a way to explain how my husband Tom and I are better together for this BlogHer review. It can't be possible that Gain detergent and fabric softener bring out the best in each other, but not us!
Well, I knew we made sense together ... I knew we were better together than apart ... but then why was it so hard to think of any concrete examples?
Frustrated, I asked Tom what he thought. His silence made it clear he was stumped, too. And that doesn't happen very often!
So I thought back to when he and I first met. We were independent individuals, full of our own separate dreams and goals. Okay, yes, technically I was still involved with someone else, but it was someone I knew I shouldn't marry and, believing I wouldn't/couldn't fall in love with anyone else, I had decided I would just live the rest of my life as a fascinating, adventurous, Independent Woman. I would travel, study ... I would be interesting and mysterious! I had accepted the fact that I would never get married, never have children, and sigh, I was okay with it. I would make the most of it and have fun.
Ironically, just a month before he met me, Tom had sworn to his eight brothers that he would not be getting married for at least another ten years. He still had lots and lots he wanted to do before settling down ... including move to New Zealand, where he could camp, hunt, rappel off of mountain sides and do all of those other rough-and-tumble guy things to his heart's content.
Little did we know we were about to round a figurative corner, bump into each other and fall in love. Within a year, we were married.
I didn't become a childless, independent single woman, after all, but I found plenty of adventure as a stay-at-home mom to three kids. And Tom didn't make it to New Zealand, but we did move to the Texas Hill Country and it's awfully pretty.
"I know," Tom said. "Our kids!"
True. We have some mighty fine kids, if I do say so myself. And it took a balance of me and him working together as a team to make them that way. Just like the wrong ratio of salt and pepper can ruin a dish, a little too much of either one of us would have been a child-raising disaster.
I'm the youngest of four, spoiled rotten. But I think I turned out okay. I believe in talking everything out, being flexible and I have a tendency to put the kids' needs and wishes first. What that boils down to is I'm a sucker and they would have walked all over me. They would have been totally spoiled brats.
Tom, on the other hand, is the third oldest of nine boys, raised in a military family on a very, very, very tight budget with lots of responsibility. And he knows he turned out pretty good himself. So if it had been left to him, we would have raised our three as if we had nine, which really made no sense, when you think about it. They would have been resentful and suppressed.
But together, balancing out our strong points, we raised three beautiful, slightly spoiled, slightly resentful children, who will need a minimal amount of counseling down the road. What a team! (This is an old picture, but one of my favorites!)
Well, okay, we raised some great kids, but is that it? Is that the only way we make sense together?
I guess there's my writing. He encourages me, understands that it's something I need to do, tolerates seeing only the back of my head most of the time (as I sit at the computer.) He supports me when I take my college classes, does his fair share and more around the house.
In turn, I supported him in his dream of building his own house, even though I knew from experience there was a very good chance I'd live in an unfinished house the rest of my life. So that's what we did, we built a house, working as a team. I took over managing the kids, the bills and all of those other little life details so that he was free to design and hammer. I even helped hammer a little, too. Now we live in our beautiful (unfinished) dream house. Our marriage was stretched thin in the process, but it didn't break and now it's stronger than ever.
But ... if we had never gotten together, I would probably still be writing and I'm sure he could have built a house without me.
"Now, Barbara," my mother chided, "you mean to tell me you can't think of one single way you're better together?"
"Well, not specifically, no."
"What about Tom's degree? He wouldn't have done that without you."
Oh, yeah! That's true! I was making more money than he was, and we decided it would be best for him to go back to school first, using his GI Bill. Then he could start making the big bucks and I could stay home with our (future) children and finish my degree. He had never really considered college before; without me urging him and supporting him, I don't think he would have even started it, much less finished with a degree. He hated it!
That little memory triggered a few more ways we're better together (thank you, mom!)...
For one thing, I'm sure I'd still be living in the Houston Ship Channel area where I grew up, if it weren't for Tom. I wouldn't be living in this area that I love so much, experiencing life down a country road with Frankie our guinea fowl and our two rowdy dogs.
And there are other ways ... urging each other to exercise and eat right and see doctors when we need to, to get enough rest, to turn off the television or the computer and go for walks ... oh, so much more I could write but I won't. I'm just so relieved!
I guess I was just having a tough time because after so many years together, the lines of ourselves have blurred, even merged into each other in some ways, becoming something better than just Me and Him. It's kind of like peanut butter and chocolate ... laundry detergent and fabric softener ... each good alone, but together...marvelous!
Now you try it and see if it's easier for you than it was for me. Tell me about a relationship you have that makes you better ... it could be with your spouse, partner, friend, family member ... and you will be entered to win a $100 Visa gift card AND a bottle of Gain laundry detergent and fabric softener.
All you have to do is leave a comment here telling me about your "perfect scents" relationship. It can be brief or long-winded like mine - either way, you'll be entered into the random drawing.
The sweepstakes runs from May 3, 2010 to June 3, 2010 and is only open to individuals who, at the time of entry deadline, are legal residents of the United States and are 18 years or older. Please be sure to leave your email address so that I can contact you if you win. Winners will be selected by random draw. Click here to read the official rules.
Want to increase your chances of winning? After leaving your comment here, click here to read and comment on six other reviews (six more chances at the $100 Visa gift card and the bottle of Gain laundry detergent and fabric softener) AND a chance at the Grand Prize of $300!
Good luck!
(This contest is now closed. Thanks for participating! I'll notify the winner this week!)
