I Married a Rebbetzin. Still.

For a number of weeks, we've had a good number of guests for Shabbat. This is great, as we love guests, but it can also get somewhat overwhelming. After two weeks where we had seven students from Midreshet Moriah, and a lunch with fifteen people, both Rena and I decided that we needed a break. So last Shabbat, we didn't have any guests. It was a real, nice, quiet family Shabbat.
And then, on Motzei Shabbat Rena approached me wondering who we should have for Shabbat next week: should it be this family or that? After considering inviting different Shabbat guests, I turned back to Rena and said, "You know, we don't have to invite anyone next Shabbat at all."
Rena looked perplexed.

A little background: When we lived in Michigan, we considered hosting people at our house for Shabbat part of our roles as rabbi and rebbetzin. We loved hosting guests, and found it a wonderful way to learn about members of the shul and community in a personal and intimate way. For this reason, we never really had very large meals of three or four families, and set our limit at two other families. Every so often, we would just be tired, and need a break. So, after four or five weeks in a row of having guests for Shabbat, we'd take a week off and have a quiet Shabbat. But then, the next week, we'd get right back to work and invite another round of guests.

(Back to the present) Rena says to me, genuinely puzzled, "What do you mean we don't have to have guests?" And then it dawns on her. She's not the rebbetzin here. I'm not the rabbi here. (note the order). We don't have to do anything, and if we want to take two or three or five weeks in a row "off", we're free to act as we please.
Not that Rena could stand to go so long without guests.
As I always told people, she didn't marry a rabbi. I married a rebbetzin.