From a young age, my father heavily impressed the importance of education upon me and he has always said learning to do housework is an equally important education to have (regardless of gender). A few years ago, he taught me how to sew buttons on clothing. Some of the dress shirts he loves are over ten years old so I've spent a lot of time replacing missing buttons on his shirts.

When visiting my boyfriend last weekend, he mentioned the button from his favorite pair of pants popped off. I told him I could replace it and we went to pick out a new button. He chose a button he really liked and I sewed it on that evening. When I presented him the finished pair, his face lit up and he was so happy I saved his favorite pair of pants.

In my feminist days, I would have dismissed this act as demeaning and sexist. But my boyfriend brings such joy to my life and I am glad this small action could bring happiness to his life.

As a side note, my mom used to sew matching pajama sets for our family and my father still wears some of the (fifteen-year-old!) pants. My boyfriend loves pajama pants, so I am thinking about learning from my mother and sewing him a pair for Christmas or our 3-year anniversary this December!