On My Husband

I never did a really gushy, mushy valentine's post... I just wasn't in the mood.  And anyway, our valentine's day involved hanging out with some borrowed munchkins-- lots of fun but more effective as birth control than as romance.  We're really not into the big romantic gesture thing, it's just not our style.  Isaac made me a card that had a funny joke about being color blind on V-day, and then excitedly pointed out that he had purposely made the card green (he can't usually tell the difference between red and green, which makes some holidays a little tricky).  Well, the card was actually blue.  I laughed so hard I snorted out my orange juice.  That was the end of our romance for the day. 

But we work really hard to keep the lovin' going 365 days a year-- not on one day when all the stuff has suddenly doubled in price.  And today, I am madly in love with my Isaac.  So I'm going to write it down, even though it's no longer a seasonally appropriate thing to do. 

Isaac is, hands down, the most compassionate, empathetic, understanding person I know.  Depression is hard, debilitating even, but Isaac has taken his experiences with his own emotions and allowed them to be an insight into others.  This comes in handy when I'm riding that roller coaster of female emotions-- he listens, he understands, he patiently waits for the cranky/crazy/unreasonably devastated wife to pass.  His trial of mental health has been the hardest thing either one of us has ever struggled with, but there is a definite and obvious blessing in the way he approaches our relationship.

He doesn't judge, because he knows from personal experience that appearances can be deceiving.  This is something I have to work on every day, but Isaac is always willing to give people the benefit of the doubt, even when that person has failed to extend the same courtesy to him.  He's also physically incapable of holding a grudge. 

When his stomach can handle it, Isaac is an awesome house cleaner.  Before he got sick he was the bathroom cleaner-in-chief.  He tries to do laundry, although I've given up on training him to help with that skill.  The last couple of weekends, he's put more effort into the weekly clean up than I have-- probably the reason I'm so madly in love with him this morning.

He's got mad fix-it skills-- seriously, this man can figure out how to fix just about anything. 

He digs things like my cell phone out of the trash can when I'm too grossed out to do it myself.

He kills spiders.

He cuts his own hair, with just a little help from me.

He loves kids--I love to sit back and watch him play with his nieces and nephews.  When we babysit, he cheerfully takes on at least half of the work, if not more.  This bodes well for our future as parents. 

He loves to camp, loves to be outside, and is an excellent traveling companion.

 

Did I mention I think he's good looking? ... Can't write a tribute to the husband without mentioning that!

He reads voraciously.  Some of my favorite days are the ones where we spend hours in bed together, absorbed in our own books.  That's something we didn't actually talk about in our courtship, and the first time we both happily read until three in the morning, I knew I had scored big time. 

He doesn't like sports.  Can I get a hallelujah?  Amen.

And he let me pick out my own wedding ring.

Isaac is completely himself, doesn't care what others think.  He does what he wants to do and doesn't care if someone else might think it strange-- like this day at the cabin, when he needed another layer and the only thing he could find was great-aunt-someone's forty year-old cardigan.  He didn't even blink, just settled himself back down with the book.  My family thought it was hilarious.  So did I.

The man is a goofball.  Totally dorky sense of humor.  Yesterday he made me laugh till I cried.  Twice.  It's a good formula.  (He does a hilarious impression of the velociraptor on Jurassic Park, just ask).

Family is important to him.  His best friends are his siblings and cousins, and he makes my family as high a priority as his own. 

He completely supported me in pursuing my education, putting his on hold so that I could finish.  He lets me ramble on and on about my life as an elementary school teacher, and doesn't even make very many mean jokes about it. 

He took me to the temple and he still takes me to the temple, even on the days I don't really want to go.

If you don't know my husband, you're really missing out on a spectacular person.  Oh, do I love him, in so many ways.