I married adventure. Tom Sawyer in a grown man's body...always on the search for woods or water, a place to fish, to explore, a new path to travel down, a different way of doing things. We are like night and day, he and I. Type A in love with Type B. Right brain married to left brain. He, the adventurous, yet calculated, organized one, always with a method to his madness. Me, the spontaneous, restless, creative one, forever dreaming and leaping before I look. Somehow it is a wonderful mix ;). If we didn't have the personalities we have, there would probably never be any sneaking onto private property in the middle of the night to go fishing; no getting up in the middle of the night to share icecream from the same bowl; no pulling over on the side of the road to explore the woods; and no wrestling in the floor until somebody gets hurt(oh, who am I kidding...it's always me ;)). And what kind of life would that be? He holds my hand in church every Sunday, sneaks back into our daughter's rooms in the middle of the night with me to watch them sleep, and makes me laugh at the dumbest things ;). It just works, and that is all that matters.

 

The day we met, I scared him. I like to tell the story...I was jogging one way, he the other when I stopped him to ask a question. I don't even know why I did it. I didn't really have a question...I just made something up ;). He ripped his headphones off like he was scared that something was wrong. He later told me that he thought I must have been being chased by a dog or something if I was talking to him, haha! Little did we know that was the beginning of a beautiful love story. Page 1: jog past the love of your life on a walking trail :). The rest is history. I fell inlove with the man through text messages. He wrote to me in the most sincere, heartfelt way, and my thirsty heart soaked it in like a sponge. He told me I was the most special, wonderful, beautiful girl on the planet...and my heart believed him :). I told my sister within one week of meeting him that I was pretty sure he was the most wonderful human being I had ever met. Luckily, he felt the same about me :). I remember our phone conversations in the wee hours of the morning, lasting so late I would fall asleep with the phone in my hand. I remember the first time we kissed, the first time he told me that he loved me, the day he proposed, and his face as I walked down the aisle. I remember our laughter over the (+) sign on the pregnancy test, the way he held me tight when we thought we might lose our precious baby, and the love in his eyes when he held that beautiful girl in his arms just moments after she was born.

 

I think on these things tonight as I sit and work at my desk. The sheer beauty of it all...the answered prayer of a man that was everything my wounded heart needed, and I sigh. I don't give this man enough credit. I don't. How many times have I nagged about something petty, or taken something out on him that he didn't deserve? Probably too many, I am afraid. I am so blessed, and still so in love. I make up my mind....resolve to be the wife that he deserves. He deserves a "run and jump" hug when he comes home from work. He deserves to be told that he is amazing, and that I am proud of him. He deserves the best I can give. 

 

It is late when I finally stumble into bed. He is there...deep, even breaths of peaceful slumber. I sneak quietly into bed beside him, try not to wake him. I tuck my cold, bare feet underneath his legs to warm them, just as I do every night, and snuggle in close to rest my head on his chest. He stirs, rolls over, half-asleep, and he whispers my name. "Julie?" "What is it?", I ask. "You're my favorite.", he says softly in my ear. I smile into the darkness, tears filling my eyes, and I fall in love all over again as he sleeps soundly next to me.

 

 

 Julie