My partner in life

My wonderful husband is a very intelligent man. While I am the one with a higher degree of learning, I often feel that he is the smarter of the two of us. His level of practical knowledge is so much more extensive than mine. So while I could spend additional time learning how to do the maintenance he does for the house or acquiring his technical knowledge, instead I focus on how lucky I am that I have a partner in life who rounds out my skill set.

I have never thought of my partnership with my husband as marrying up or marrying down. He is my equal in so many ways and I am a lucky woman. I was surprised to read that many women, however, consider themselves to be marrying down if their husbands don't have the same level of college degree as they do. The study on that link unfortunately forms a relationship between education level and income earning potential. And while that can be true for many fields, it is not true for every field. And I am sure we could all think of many examples in which a degree doesn't equate to intelligence.

While I am happy for my sisters' gains in education, I want them to stay grounded: Education does not equal great relationship material. You have to find someone in life that you respect, that you can talk to, that you share values with.

My husband is a successful, hardworking, dedicated man. I wonder at the way he automatically takes care of things in our house that I didn't even know needed to be done. And I have spent so many wonderful hours listening to his thoughts about the world. He is my partner in life and I am so happy to have him be the role model of an excellent man, husband and father for our son.

What is your spouse an expert in that you are not? Tell me in the comments.