My Man is 33

Some things I loved about today:

1.  My Quiet Man played swimmingly, albeit loudly, with his little brother Hulk.  They were in and out the door all day, and Hulk tried a few Evil Kinivil (sp?) things which may or may not have resulted in concussion, but they were playing together.  Hulk loves when Quiet gives him positive attention.  The "game" they were playing today involved Hulk falling on the grass and yelling for Quiet to help him.  He was trapped and needed Quiet's help to get freed.  Considering the animosity between them almost always, embarrassingly at times, it was so sweet to witness.

2.  I realized that though, as I may or may not complain or worry about often, it is complete messy loud nonstop chaos around here all day, it will, as the wise ones say, be sad in a way when I don't have all 5 of my kids at home, around me, wanting to share more than 5 people could possibly share with 1 other human all at the same time.

3.  I am thankful we are alive, healthy (relatively) and well.

4.  TQM also decided he would teach Hulk to go pee in the potty.  The next time TQM went, Hulk came too, and tried desperately to copy his older brother.  Hulk even asked to have the potty seat out and tried to legitimately use it...all inspired by TQM's lead.  For better or worse, siblings actually seem to want to learn way more readily from each other than parents.  A for effort, Hulk, A for effort!

5.  We planted Bob the Mint Julep Juniper in our very front garden bed, meaning we officially have 1 beautiful garden bed after a ton of work (and more money than I'd like) from Judy Moody (loving her right now...well always...but especially right now) and me and Smokey (come on...it totally beats Hubs or The Husband or DH, bleh).

AND, I had so much to do today.  I dislike errands when there are too many in a row and you have too many things that need done at home and kids who need nurturing.  My only breaks today or nursing time.  Smokey stayed home from work for his BIRTHDAY, and I did those tons of errands without an entourage.  Thanks to him, it was fabulously fast, and hopefully it was an okay or nice part of her birthday.  They are cute, if overly exuberant more often than not.

A Not-so-short (#33) list of things I think are cool about Smokey

1.  He had the nerve to turn my whole life/plan upside down when we were just fresh at college.

2.  When we were newly married, young, and poor, he traded in something like 300 music CDs for store credit and would come home from work with a Hitchcock movie or something fun for me every so often just because.

3.  He and his mom did some crazy conspiring to make our first married Christmas together quite magical and way too exciting for me.

4.  He supports me so much in my calling without complaining...we'll leave it at that.

5.  That guy can smoke and grill and make some sinfully delicious chicken-fried steak, mashed potatoes, gravy, shepherd's pie, and chicken pot pie.

6.  His comical drawings when we were dating.

7.  Time and again HE has chosen ME above other things.

8.  He may not love this one, but I can turn off the tech part of my brain and depend on him for that.  There's a lot going on in my head.  It's nice to have someone who can figure out what cord goes where and fix my phone when something is funky.

9.  Detail oriented (although I frenetic wife and 5 hyper kids are making him "Let It Go" often so he doesn't explode, bless him).

10.  He's my factoid robot of pop culture-although Pokemon is becoming a factoid machine in his own right (not pop culture yet).

11.  He got me way more into music, mostly alternative.  When I met him I was only a few years out of loving oldies and country ONLY thanks to my mom and dad.  True, the fact he despises country is sad, but kudos for broadening my horizon.  P.S. Screamo makes me squeamo.

12.  Running buddy.  It was FUN!

13.  Gives me the last bite every time.

14.  He can come up with quite a stellar and stirring Easter lesson to distract the kids early in the morning, right after waking up, when I realize there are some Easter eggs that need hidden.

15.  I HIGHLY VALUE his testimony.  I want to know this guy I plan on forever with is True to the Faith, so one of my all time favorites is hearing what he knows to be true and values and how he got there.

16.  He gave me an awesome extended family that has truly, no kidding, treated me as one of their own.

17.  Much to his chagrin, helped with the creation of 5 beautiful (spastic? manic? cray cray?) unique souls who make me so proud, and occasionally embarrassed, and fill me with Christlike love every day and never allow me to be bored.

18.  Psych!  He introduced us, you see.

19.  Ah, a fellow anglophile.

20.  His patience with my flitting from topic to topic like a butterfly on caffeine and with my youngest-child-attention-seeking behaviors and for being the only person I can talk to death.

21.  He plays with/teaches/gives the kids the guidance and affection that every kid should get from their daddy.

22.  "Second chance" prom.  Way better the second time around AND I got to be The Lady in Red at last.

23.  His patience with other people's kids.

24.  Not trying to jump out and scare me nearly as often as I try to do it to him.

25.  So fun to have alone time with-though the memories of alone time are fading.  When we do get away, Smokey is the funnest person in the world to be with.

26.  The guy was this punk (okay-wrong word) teenager when I met him and as he needed to he got jobs and provided for our family as we grew from 2 to 3 to...you get the idea.  He has tried always and agonized over how to provide the best he possibly could for our family.  I would say he is doing great.  Starvation?  No-quite the opposite.  Roof over head?  Check.  Warm stuff?  Check.  Comfortable home?  Check.  Fun times?  Check.  All physical needs met?  Check.

27.  He listens to quirky women of mature years.  They need that sometimes.

28.  He likes to rough up kitties.  Who knew?

29.  He is my cup of tea.  Wink Wink.

30.  Impressions/accents/impersonations.

31.  Giving me speech retraining by mockery.  

32.  On the rare occasion that we aren't both conked out exhausted, late night uncontrollable laughter sessions, although sometimes that was just pregnancy hormones causing ME to laugh at HIM.  Truly the best medicine.

33.  Cheesy alert!  Cheesy alert!  I can't imagine my life without Smokey (the Bear-bwahaha).  In a few more years we will have known each other longer than not.  Sometimes life has been hairy-scary and sometimes super fun and sometimes downright amazing, but it has been great to share it with this man who seems perfectly suited to me even though we are SO, SO different.  Interesting guaranteed 100%.