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Tuesday, August 17, 2010

You Say It's Your Birthday?

Today, August 17th, my exceptional husband is another year older.  And so, I feel a tribute is in order.  Especially since my only outing today was to the UPS store to mail a package, and they are thin on sentimental cards.  I learned it doesn't take much creativity to publish a greeting card.  Maybe I went into the wrong business...

Anyway, Chris.  Love of my life.  The rock of our family.  The person who has kept me tethered to the ground during the ups and downs of the last ten years.  The man who has changed my life the most.  Besides Jesus. 

But I have to say, if you are second only to Jesus in someone's eyes, you must be doing something right.

Chris, you have encouraged me to do so many things I don't know I would have been brave enough to do.  (Mom, close your eyes).  You taught me to wakeboard, you cheered me the whole way up my first Colorado Fourteener, you taught me to fly an airplane, drive a boat, you talked me into paragliding.  Together, we've scouted bears in Denali, watched whales in Hawaii, caught record-big salmon in Alaska, snowmobiled Yellowstone, SCUBA dived the Blue Hole, sipped red wine in a palace in Italy.  And don't forget the mundane:  you taught me to lay tile, handscrape hardwoods, stone a fireplace, build a fence, paint a house.  We solve all the world's problems painting houses, don't we?

You taught me that it is always better to think before I speak.  That I should never send an email when I'm angry (thank you for that one!), and it is always best to wait and think before a big decision.  You've also taught me that saving money is more fun than spending it. 

Who would have thought I could have ever learned that lesson?

You've stoically held my hand while I hysterically passed a kidney stone, you held my hair during the flu, and you held my heart during the brutal infertility treatments.  You helped me through two cancer surgeries and the resulting anemia, and you "didn't say no" when we started the adoption process, which eventually led to our beloved babies.

Everything above, however, is eclipsed by the feeling I get in my soul when I watch you lovingly and patiently parent our Two spectacular daughters.  This often renders me completely speechless.  Imagine.  Me.  Without speech.  Wow, a feat in itself.  And through the resulting chaos of the last two years, you always maintain your characteristic tolerance and serenity that sometimes puts my proclivity to fly off the handle to shame.  All the while, patiently loving your dad through his infirm, and still having a smile on your face for the girls even though I know inside, your heart is breaking. 

This makes me love you even more.

Happy Birthday, my Love.

2 comments:

  1. Won't even ask about photos #5 or #10! :)

    MLE

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wish Chris a happy birthday from the Walshes!!!

    Beautiful tribute, Sarah!

    ReplyDelete