Top Ten Tuesday Challenge

I’m flying solo these days because the man of the house is out of town. That’s not an oddity in this family. Since he's in sales, he often travels during the week and has done so for the 25 years of our marriage. Now, one would think that after a quarter of a century, I would be used to his absence. I’m not. I still miss him every moment that he’s gone, pester him incessantly by cell phone, and get excited when I see him pull in the driveway. Maybe that’s a hidden blessing of marrying a traveling man. Absence makes the heart grow fonder… and fonder… and fonder. So, in honor of the upcoming Valentines Day holiday, and to practice the art of the edit, I have compiled a short list of ten things that I love about that man. A finite list, I have discovered, is very difficult for the chronically verbose. At the risk of being a nauseating, I will say that 101 things would have been easier…

Here’s a challenge: Try it yourself between now and the Big Day. I have a hunch that you will find it more difficult than you think to limit your I LOVE reasons to a meager ten.

Without further rambling, I’ll give it a whirl.

Ten Things I Love About That Man…

1. He loves the LORD and is a wonderful spiritual head of our household.

2. He notices. If you know him, no further explanation necessary.

3. In his business itinerary, all roads lead through Macon…

4. He peels the apples, sieves the pulp, and never tells Miss Whimsy that 17 years is more than enough time to grow out of idiosyncrasies.

5. He believes a book bag, which has been lugged from car to school and class to class is far too heavy to be carried between the car and the house. And he acts upon that belief.

6. He would still rather have a child-centered photo gift than anything else in the world... and the children are 17 and 20.

Ghosts of Christmas Past...

...and present

And he decorates his office with them.

No matter how old or broken they become.

7. He is a strong enough man to love strong women... yet enough of a gentleman to treat even a strong woman like a lady.

8. He brings me coffee in bed when he’s home. That one really ought to be # 1B...

9. He has a servant’s heart.

10. For 25 years, he has vicariously experienced PMS, post partum depression, insecurities, weight watchers, Akins, sugar busters, the rotation diet, counting points, counting fat grams, counting calories, counting carbs, counting points again... working mom guilt, stay-at-home mom guilt, part time teacher guilt, monsters in the closet, brontophobia, carcinophobia, aviophobia, musophobia…

…yet for some oddball reason, he loves me back.