Important Things First

A shout out to the Husband! Happy Birthday, Babe. You rock! (And I'm not just saying that because you gave me a bite of your blueberry bagel.)

And since none of you have the privilege of living with him, allow me to sing his praises for a moment--I don't do it often enough.

He is an awesome friend. So much so that he's had the same friends since he was 12. He is completely himself, which is a truly beautiful thing in the day and age in which we live.

(Overheard: The Husband is on the phone with his sister and he's telling her about the Krispy Kreme Challenge that he's running tomorrow. You run 2 miles, eat a dozen donuts and then run 2 more miles. I am going, in spite of the prospective vomit because I'm the Wife and it's my job to scrape him up off of the pavement when necessary.)

He's an excellent husband. He loves me enough to know when to leave me alone. This morning (on his BIRTHDAY!) he unloaded the dishwasher and got up early with the Boy instead of sleeping in, so that I could sleep another hour.

He wasn't a cat person when we got married--and I loved him enough that if he had told me to get rid of the cats, I would have found homes for them--but he didn't. He learned to live with them because he loves me.

He doesn't make grand gestures but he never fails to do the every day things that make living with him a pleasure instead of a hassle. (He's currently carrying the Boy around while he talks to his sister because the Boy was outraged at not being given some of his blueberry bagel. )


He's an absolutely amazing father. I suspected as much when I married him because he was so great with everyone's kids, but seeing him with the Boy has been one of those joys that was completely unforeseen and which never fails to make my heart swell up and choke off my lungs. He loves him in a completely different way than I do--I suppose it boils down to fathers and sons as opposed to mothers and sons. He delights in making him laugh. And will let him get away with almost anything. He holds him and chases the cats for him since he's not mobile yet. It's hilarious.

My pride prevents me from admitting too often, but he has completely changed my life. And in so doing he has changed me. It's not the crushing kind of love that you read about in books, it's the kind of love that's liberating. In some ways he's freed me from myself and my own unrealistic expectations. He let's me be human and weak and fallible. And in that way, he's kept me from ulcers and therapy. Thank you.

Happy Birthday, Husband. I love you.