I know father's day isn't for another week or two, but I couldn't wait. DH is such an awesome husband, father, and friend, that I don't want to only appreciate him one day of the year, I want him to know, that on a random Saturday, he means just as much to me as he does on any day in celebration of fathers or husbands/partners.
DH and I met on our college rowing team. In the very early stages of our relationship, he was a good friend. When I left my college campus to change majors and change schools for a semester, and then changed my mind and came back, he was the first person I saw down in the basement workout area of the old arena that came up to me with a huge smile on his face and welcomed me back to the team.
When we first began to date, we not only spent time together actually on dates, but we also spent time together with our rowing team as well. Our team traveled across the country for regattas, and he was my favorite 'bus buddy.' One bus trip, we were on our way I think to South Carolina, and the bus kept breaking down. It would drive for a little while, overheat, pull over to the side of the road, the driver would get it working again, and then we would be off... to only break down a few miles down the road. Now, imagine this, an entire bus full of huge male athletes and some female athletes. On the side of the road, in the south. It was HOT. Each time the bus would break down, obviously, the air would turn off, and we just had to sit in our teeny, squished seats and wait for the bus to start working again.
It was on that trip, probably only a month or two after we started dating, that I really knew I could have a future with DH. As odd as it sounds, sitting there next to him, sweating like a crazy person, cranky as all get-out from it being so hot, and in the midst of my full-fledged motion sickness, I wasn't embarrassed or anxious or nervous about him actually seeing who I really was. I was comfortable.
Now, I wouldn't admit that to him until WAY later, even after he told me he loved me first :)
My mom also said she knew that it would probably be a pretty serious relationship, because of how often I spent on the phone with him the first summer away from him while I was back in my hometown, and he was off working in New York. We spent hours on the phone with each other.
The subsequent summer away from each other, after we had been together for a year, not only did we call each other frequently during the summer, but we also took home a notebook and we wrote each other every few days as well. We still have those notebooks and I look back on it and smile at all the new-butterflies and new-love feelings we were having. It was great to have it all written down. I actually still write in mine to him every so often when I get the itching. It's romantic, and I'm so thankful to have a partner who wasn't afraid to express how much he missed me and needed me in his daily life.
Fast forward to now. We have been together for 9 years and have been married coming up on 5 in a few short months. We have a beautiful child at home and a second on the way. Sure, there are times, as with every relationship, where we drive each other crazy, but that comfort, that trust, that understanding, that intimate honesty, that is still there. He knows me more than almost any other human on this planet. (After becoming a parent, I can't say that he knows me better than anyone, because I think my parents know me very close to as deeply as he does, just as I know my child as deeply as anyone can, and hope to always will)
He still does things for me that other people would groan and sigh over, that he accepts without a word of complaint. A few nights ago, when I was feeling sick in the middle of the night, he went scrounging around our kitchen at 4 in the morning to grab me snacks and something to drink to help my stomach feel better. He wakes up sometimes at ridiculously early times in the morning to go work out, because he doesn't want to miss any time in the evenings with little man and I. He has not questioned with the new pregnancy when I need a break, a nap, or a moment to myself. He just takes little man, and plays like there is not a thing in the world he'd rather be doing, even if there was something he was just doing. He does the dishes, independently, without me ever asking, just because he wants to help out around the house. He goes with me and little man every week to go grocery shopping, because he thinks it is a fun way to spend time with us.
I could go on and on for days about how many things he does that are so little but so big at the same time. But the gist of it is, I married an amazing man who is so, so very right for me. He is so much more than I could have ever expected from a man, and he is so very patient and gentle with who I am.
We've had a really good past 9 years, and I look forward to decades more time to spend with you, because no matter how much time I have with you DH, it will never be enough.
♥ the naptown organizer