The Suit Coat

One of the reasons I love Brandon so much is because he is so self sufficient! He does not rely on me to do much for him and therefor doesn't have a high standard of expectations for me to reach.  I however, tend to have an extremely high level of standards for him to reach.  Not really fair I know.  I blame it on my perfectionist genetics. But, after ten years we must be doing something right.  I like to think we compliment each other quite well.

As a result of his self sufficiency he NEVER and I mean NEVER asks me to iron a shirt, sew on a button, polish a shoe or whatever else a mans wardrobe needs.  I am sure he would be over joyed if I ironed for him on a regular basis.  But to his credit he has NEVER said one thing about it.  I mention this admirable quality for good reason, which you will discover later on.

Back in February Brandon was asked to give the closing prayer at his grandma Ball's funeral.  As he approached the mic he looked very concerned, I thought that perhaps he was overcome with emotion.  What I later discovered was this...

As he had gone to cross his arms he ripped his suit jacket! He was so taken back that he had a hard time focusing on the prayer.  It had little to do with emotion and more to do with the thought of "oh crap what was that?"

Fast forward to Mothers Day and Brandon was asked to speak in Sacrament.  All week he was going back and forth with the idea of buying a new suit.  Finally he decided against it.  He decided he was just going to fix the hole in his jacket.

On Saturday afternoon he heads out to buy some gray thread, no coat to accompany him for matching purposes, rather he decides to "eyeball" it.  Later that afternoon he finds a needle and the thread he just purchased and sits down to "mend" his suit coat.  Keep in mind, he has done ALL of this without even once asking me to help him, to do it for him, to find a needle, to match thread etc.  All on his own!

After about an hour the finished product was this...

As you can imagine my high standard level kicked in, or it could have been my perfectionism or perhaps it was my pity or even sheer horror.  Whatever it was, we ALL know there was NO way I was letting him go to church like that! His response was "It's fine! Its only for an hour and only the Bishopric is going to see it." Umm, no it is not fine! It is terrible!!!

I graciously walked down to get my sewing machine, sat down and 20 mins later my result was this...

I blog about this for a number of reasons.  One, I love that Brandon never EXPECTS me to do anything for him.  Does he appreciate it? Absolutely! But expect it? Never! Two, I have to give credit to my mom, and my grandma and her mom etc, etc, because without her teaching me how to sew I never would have been able to a "help brother out."  Three, it is a classic Brandon and Rachel story that needed to be documented! I am the RED to his GREEN, the yin to the yang, we just work! So with that, his mediocre expectations compliment my high expectations and often times the result is seamless and near perfection!