Fathers love is often quiet but incredibly powerful. While a mother’s love is celebrated and cherished, a father’s love sometimes goes unnoticed—yet it is just as deep and unwavering. Over the years, we may not always recognize the countless ways our husbands contribute to our families and make our marriages work. From paying tuition fees and grocery bills to buying new clothes and ensuring the kids get to school every morning, their dedication and sacrifices deserve our heartfelt gratitude.

Those may look petty and we tend to devalue them, but from the eyes of a man who sacrificed a lot for his family, these efforts are worth mentioning. To all fathers, here’s a list of our gratitude for this Father’s Day. Thank you for:

1. Sacrificing your “Mamak Time” with the dudes watching their favourite football club.

2. Giving up your sports session with the clique after office hours.

3. Forgoing your savings for gadgets to put the kids’ necessity before your desires.

4. Spending all your pay on us and the kids just to make sure we live a decent, comfortable life.

5. Lending your ears every day after coming home from work only to listen to our rants.

6. Then handling the kids right away to give us some time for ourselves.

7. Accepting the emotional us for who we are.

8. Keeping your feelings to yourselves only to make things better when arguments happen.

9. Saying yes to us, just to avoid another round of dispute.

10. Driving us around for vacations and road trips despite not getting enough sleep the night before.

11. Help us changing the diapers at times regardless of how gross it looks. And how nasty it smells.

As it takes two tango, cooperation from fathers is essential because their love is second to none. That being said, it is also important in every marriage to acknowledge their different ways of expressing love.  What’s really at play about fathers and affection is their unique means of uttering them through physical activities. Specifically, their services to change the bulb and hose in the washroom, the shared football games and PS4, the talk about gadgets, the trip to the F1 Grand Prix and the day spent at the PC fair with the son.

Men do not verbally articulate their love out loud because their actions say it all and as their other half, we need to concede to their preferences and embrace them for who they are. Is marriage not about tolerance? This is one of the times that we, the wives, have to put ourselves in their shoes.

Anyway, what do you think about fathers and their sacrifices? With only 11 sacrifices listed here, surely there are more that are missed. This year, Father’s Day lets show more appreciation to our heroes just like how we did on Mother’s Day. Hey, men deserve to be celebrated too!