Taking Credit

       When Tom got home last night, and saw that the kitchen paper blob was gone, and the kitchen island all clean, he commented on it immediately. "Wow! That is amazing," he said. "That must have been five hours of work."

       He opened up his arms in hugging position, and I happily snuggled in.  "You know," he whispered in my ear, "There are elements of my job that are difficult, and I know there are elements of yours that are tough too. We both do our part though, don't we?"

       I considered telling him that it had only taken me just over an hour to do all the sorting and organizing Martha had suggested. But then I figured that if he hadn't read my blog posting yet, I might as well take advantage of that. So I hugged him back. 

       And I learned a lesson too.

       As a lawyer, I had been expected to document how I used every ten minutes of my day, so that clients could be billed precisely for my valuable time.  Now that I am at home, I contemplate a memo to myself: When there's a chance of getting more credit for a task than is due, be careful not to belittle the effort involved.