Whatta Man

"I wanna take a minute or two to give much respect due
To the man who's made a difference in my world"

To all you cool kids out there, you know those words of wisdom come from Salt-n-Pepa :) I thought that I would take a few seconds just to let the world (or whoever decides to read this) know how lucky I feel. Granted, I don't always feel this way - sometimes I want to strangle the man, but 99.8527% of the time, I heart him.

I said after that first date -which I am sure you all will hear about sometime - that I thought I had met the man I was going to marry. He kept telling me that night that I was "the coolest chick he had ever met." The other night at dinner, we were laughing about that. He told me that he still felt that way, but he said that he should amend it to be "the coolest chick for him." That made me smile because he truly gets me. These are a few of the reasons (in no particular order) why I love this man so much.

1. He makes me laugh. Let's face it: there is NOTHING worse than being stuck with someone who has no sense of humor. Some of the wives I know must be bored to tears because they have husbands who I have never even seen smile. I love that we can be silly and joke about things that probably shouldn't be funny, and it's okay. We get each other's humor. We can laugh at ourselves and each other. We can be total goofballs and act like children. I know that life will never be boring or without laughter.

2. He's responsible. For all of his goofball ways, Jason is one of the most responsible men I know. He takes his job as a husband and father seriously and has a plan for taking care of our family. I don't need to say anymore about that because there is a level of comfort in knowing that that I can't describe any better.

3. He is a wonderful father. I always knew that he would be. After all, he is a big kid at heart. We used to go to cookouts and things before we had kids, and Jason would inevitably end up outside herding all the children into a game or something. He couldn't be more loving with our son. He never ever complains when he has to hang out with the Jakeman while I run errands or just get out of the house for a while. I know that as Jake grows, I am going to enjoy watching them interact.

4. He loves our animals. I know that may sound stupid to some of you, but anyone with pets that they love can understand this one. To hear him tell the little dog that he loves him still melts my heart. Seriously, could there be anything sweeter?

5. He lets me be me. I don't ever have to hide what I am thinking or pretend to be someone I'm not with Jason. He loves me for who I am, and for that I am grateful. I think that so many times, people try to change who they are to please who they think is their ideal mate and they lose who they are in the process. I can be sailor-mouthed, opinionated, motherhood loving, spunky old me all the time, and that's just fine with him.

6. He is expressive in his love. There is not a day that goes by that he doesn't tell me he loves me. Usually he throws in a "hot" comment for good measure :) I can remember sitting at CJ's in Macon one night when we were dating. We were listening to a live band and just having a good time talking to each other. A woman actually got up and came to our table to ask us when we were getting married. I wanted to tell her I thought that was an excellent question but held my tongue. She commented that she and the people at her table had been watching us and she had never seen two people who looked more in love. I think that it's obvious to most people who have hung out with us that we truly love each other. For anyone who was at our wedding, I think you all can vouch for me on that one. He's not afraid to kiss me in public (not any full on make-out sessions, mind you), and he always reaches for my hand when we are out. I love that.

7. He has a way with words. I have some of the most beautiful letters and emails from Jason. He has a way of writing things that can make you laugh in one sentence and get all misty-eyed in the next. I found a card in the mailbox today that he left for me to find that made me do both.

8. He can dance. Lord knows, I'm glad one of us can teach our children some moves. If they only had me to teach them, people would think we were a family of epileptics.

These are a few of the reasons that I love the man I call my husband. I call him other things every now and again, but we won't talk about those on this day of love. I feel like a lucky woman to have found him.

"I give props to those who deserve it, and believe me y'all he's worth it." Now, for those of you singing that song, you can sing along here.