Friday, July 7, 2017

To My Husband.

While I don't always express this publicly, today it felt right.

Today, and everyday, my heart is full of gratitude for the wonderful man that you are.

I see you serve. I wake up each morning to service - whether that is your sneaking out of the bedroom with our son before I can wake up to his cries, or as I walk out and find you quietly studying to bring yourself and our family needed spiritual strength. You follow promptings you receive to contact others, sometimes people you haven't spoken to in years. Sometimes people you've never met before. You pick up strangers on the side of the road and give them rides home. You talk to others about their lives, and remember small details that others would forget immediately. You hold your tongue at things others do, even though they probably deserve every negative comment you may have at that moment. But you stay kind. You stay you.


I see you work hard. You take side jobs, and go to work almost every day. This means more to me than I will ever be able to express to you. Before I met you, I never thought I would want to stay home with our children. I wanted to be the one out working - I imagined going to medical school and becoming a surgeon. I would be at the hospital while you took care of the children. I would call you to see how they were doing, and you would tell me that everything was great and that you all missed me. I would tell you that I missed you, too, but that I would be home as soon as I could.

That all changed the second we found out we would actually become parents. Real parents. I felt this innate need to be there as much as I could for our little boy. I am forever grateful to you for allowing me to stay home with him - you have given me the best job I could ever have. You gave me a job I never knew I wanted. And even though you work hard, you still find time for us. To make us feel wanted, loved and special. To make me feel like I'm the most important thing in the world to you. You will never know what that means to me.

I see you care. You have a side of compassion to you that is rarely found in others. You are honest. You are protective. You are charitable. There are so many qualities about you that plead to how caring you truly are. Anyone who knows you can see the light you have in your eyes, and feels that the time you give them is truly theirs. You make people feel important, you help them to see their value. You help them feel or remember that they truly are a child of a loving Heavenly Father who wants the best for them. Whether they react in a positive or negative way, they feel it. I've seen it in their eyes. You help them feel that.

I see you walk with God. You value His voice over any other - you constantly are trying your hardest to listen. To follow. To be guided. You use your faith - you trust. When He speaks, you act. When He waits to give you an answer, you do your best and ask Him to lead you to the right places, adjusting your course as you get the quiet answers He gives. Watching you communicate with Him has been awe-inspiring. It is an example to me, and will be the most important thing you will be able to teach our children. Our - now little - family is so blessed to have you, for this reason and so many others.

I see you love. I could have never imagined being with someone as good, as humble or as genuine as you. You love me in a way no one else can - we are still on cloud nine together. We work to be there. And while the scenery on our cloud will change from time to time, we stay. We work. You fight for us. You value my opinion, you listen and guide and encourage. You celebrate our successes, and stay strong in our failures. We keep going. We are a true team - and that couldn't happen as well as it does without the love that you share and constantly show. You open my door. You carry the diaper bag. You make me laugh on rough days. You hug me when I cry. You encourage me to be better. You help me be stronger. You truly love me unconditionally.

I see you being imperfect. And I love you more for it. You notice your potential for growth and you do something about it - how wonderful is that? You do it happily - you do it willingly. So while you, and we as human beings, are all imperfect, you know that perfection is attainable and you reach for it. That makes you valiant. It is inspiring.

I could write a novel on all the things I see in you. I could go on for days, months, or years on how blessed I am to adventure this life together with you. But it would all come down to this:

I love you.
You are the best part of me.
Of all the creations God has made, you are my favorite.
As the minutes pass, my love for you grows stronger. As the days fly by, sometimes faster than we'd like, remember that you are loved more than you were the day before.

You are, and always will be, my greatest blessing.

Love,

Your Wife.