To Rand on His 38th Birthday

100 things I will always appreciate about you:

1. You have a perfect jaw line which leads right up to a great snuggle spot under your earlobe,


2. You have really soft hair that gets curly when it’s long,


3. You don’t like to hear it, but you have really cute hands and feet,


4. You clean up REALLY well (meaning, you look good in a suit and tie),


5. But you’re also adorable in your t-shirt, tightie whities, and socks,


6. You always look at me when we are talking and I know I am being taken seriously,


7. You ask my opinion and you listen to it,


8. You are good at asking if I want your opinion or if I just need you to listen,


9. You are willing to tell me when you just aren’t in a place to listen, though this doesn’t happen often,


10. You don’t believe “I love you” can be said too many times or in too many ways,


11. Yet you always ask if you’ve said it too many times each day (you haven’t),


12. You never leave without a hug,


13. You always insist on hugs when you return,


14. You are always happy to go to a bookstore and call it a date,


15. After an hour or so roaming the bookstore, you always ask what I’ve found even though you really aren’t interested in the kinds of books I read,


16. You devour books even more greedily than I do,


17. You do all the laundry and give me a hard time about not putting my clothes away,


18. You pile all of my clean clothes into a single laundry basket conveniently located right beside my dresser,


19. You’ve even starting sorting the laundry by type and color AND when I do manage to do a load you complain that I fill the washer too full,


20. You often clean house when I’m at work on the weekend so that I come home after a long day to find the house sparkling,


21. You’ve never been afraid to buy my feminine products,


22. In fact, you’ve never been afraid to shop for anything, except for clothes… which I typically don’t like much either,


23. I can almost always tell you think of me when you do the grocery shopping, even when I haven’t taken the time to put anything on the list,


24. When given the choice, you always prefer to take me with you when you grocery shop, even though you know I’ll likely wreck the budget and ignore the list,


25. You love to listen to 80s music,


26. You think listening to 80s music is somehow superior to 60s and 70s music, yet you tend to slip a few 70s songs in there yourself,


27. Of all the people in the world, I think you prefer to hang out with me most, and I certainly prefer to hang out with you most,


28. And you also enjoy hanging out with your kids,


29. In fact, you are the best daddy I know,


30. You treat our children with respect, talk with them, and take them seriously,


31. You aren’t afraid to call me on it when I’m slipping into parental modes that don’t fit our philosophy,


32. And you’re usually pretty gentle about it,


33. You are absolutely dedicated to maintaining a shared vision when it comes to stuff like parenting philosophy,


34. As well as goals, direction, plans, whatever… for our family,


35. And most importantly… for us as a couple,


36. You treat the well-being of us the couple as seriously as you treat the well-being of each of us as individuals,


37. You are still asking what you want to be when you grow up,


38. You know that “growing up” is not a set point in time when all your options and choices become closed to you,


39. You still ask me what I want to be when I grow up,


40. You encourage me, support me, believe in me – even when my answers don’t make sense to you,


41. You sing songs like Leader of the Band and Big Yellow Taxi aloud with such heart and passion,


42. You prefer to drive, but always ask me if I want to,


43. When I do want to drive, you always give me the keys without complaint,


44. You keep the vehicles full of gas,


45. And you deal with the guys at the auto shop because they tend to deal better with men even though you agree that I’m just as capable with the cars as you are,


46. You are good for long, drawn-out, philosophical conversations about anything and everything when we are on long, drawn-out car trips,


47. You mow the lawn,


48. But you will likely let me mow too if/when we ever get a lawn big enough for a riding mower,


49. You are willing to have carrot cake or German chocolate for dessert (which I prefer) when you’d really rather have cheese cake or wedding white,


50. You never assume to know which kind of candy bar I will want,


51. But you will likely choose a candy bar I like when you are picking for me,


52. You don’t expect me to cook for you,


53. You let me cook for you when I really want to,


54. You are just as likely to clean up the kitchen as I am,


55. You walk the dog sometimes even though it’s something I promised I would always take care of,


56. You even seem to really like, and appreciate, the dog,


57. You think to change the sheets on the bed more often than I do,


58. When you sleep, you often make happy little mumbling noises that make me think you must have pretty good dreams,


59. You sleep so hard you rarely remember your dreams,


60. But when you do remember them, they often impress/disturb you enough that you feel the need to talk about them,


61. It’s easy for you to get out of bed early each morning,


62. You accomplish more in the first few hours of a day than many people accomplish in an entire day,


63. As long as I’ve known you, you’ve always looked for ways to improve yourself,


64. Yet you are generally content and happy with the person you are,


65. You are honorable,


66. You are the most trustworthy person I know,


67. You love your parents and your siblings fiercely,


68. You would do anything in your power to take care of them or help them when they are in need,


69. You are partial to my photo albums and the stuff I write about the kids,


70. Having a nice computer is as important to you as it is to me,


71. You never consider anything I pursue a waste of time or money,


72. You are willing to read and comment on my novel even though it is “chicklit” and not even good chicklit at that,


73. You have a lot of compassion for people, especially children, in tough situations,


74. Yet, you are a realist and don’t spend time dwelling on what’s beyond your power to fix,


75. You do spend time dwelling on what is in your power to fix,


76. And day-by-day, you are fixing it,


77. When you are nervous, you bounce your leg from the heel,


78. When you are relaxed, you laugh heartily and speak with ease,


79. In fact, you are almost always at ease speaking – no matter how many people are listening,


80. Sometimes you giggle like a little girl,


81. Sometimes you giggle so hard that I can’t help but giggle too,


82. You have a very pleasant voice, except when you are giggling,


83. Then you are just downright amusing,


84. Your lips, especially the top one, is beautifully shaped,


85. It makes for very nice kissing,


86. You speak fluent Spanish (and it’s sexy, as well as handy at times),


87. You speak enough of a handful of other languages to impress me, as well,


88. You make me feel beautiful, even when I have bedhead in the worst way and I’ve eaten a lot of garlic for breakfast,


89. You aren’t afraid to tell me when I smell like garlic, yet you never run away,


90. You like to eat garlic, as well,


91. You think of things like maraschino cherries and whipped topping for dessert,


92. And you think of the same things I think of when you see maraschino cherries and whipped topping…


93. You are selective about what is playing on our television, when the television is on at all,


94. You are willing to have fun talking seriously about what we’d do with our lottery winnings, even though we will never win the lottery,


95. You are even more willing to plan how we will cope without the lottery,


96. Being with you is something akin to winning the lottery, I’m pretty sure,


97. You see us growing old together,


98. We’re going to be pretty fun old folks together,


99. I remember when you turned 21, and you remember when I turned 18,


100. All the birthdays we have yet to celebrate…

Oh, and a bonus…
101.

Happy Birthday, Bubba!

I love you.