shout out!

I recently found out that my husband has been able to sneak on here and read what I write. My secrets are out. Oh well! Guess it's less to explain once he comes home, right? So since he is able to read this trashy novel of mine, I figured we should give him a shout out, as he's off in the middle of nowhere and doesn't get much interaction with the outside world. (No, seriously, post a comment and give him a shout out! He would love it, I think... If not, too bad!)

I realize that not many of my readers know my husband. I don't talk about him often even though there is a lot to talk about. We have a long history, starting when we were in elementary school, even though we don't really remember that.

We officially met the summer after I graduated high school. It was pretty much instant attraction, compounded by the fact that we were going to colleges 2 States away from each other. We dated long distance for almost a year and then we broke up for some unknown reason. 3 years later he called me and asked if we could give it a second chance. I told him I'd give him 5 hours and 13 hours later, we were still on our date. 3 months after that, we decided we should get married.

Most women have a beautiful and romantic story about their proposal. Mine, not so much. It happened over the phone, because once again, we were dating long distance, and went something like this:

him: "Well, I guess we should get married before I go to OBC."
me: "Yeah, that's probably a good idea"
him: "Ok, do you think you can plan the wedding in 5 weeks?"
me: "Who needs 5? I can do it in 4."
him: "Sounds good. Lets plan on that then."
me: "Ok."

And 5 weeks later, we were married. I'm sure there was much speculation about the quick nature of our wedding. I love me some good gossip, but there was none here. The truth was, he married me for my money and I married him for his health insurance. And what glorious health insurance it is! It's the gift that keeps on giving. My money ran out a long time ago, but that insurance keeps going.

I would have married him even if he didn't have killer health insurance. He's a great husband. He eats my cooking and doesn't complain. He puts up with me never making the bed and he lets me hog the covers. He even folds the towels how I like them folded and he supports my stroller habit. Most importantly, more often than not he gives me the TV remote and control of the car radio. These qualities make for a great spouse. He has many more good qualities that overshadow the fact that he's made it a habit to knock me up and flee the country. He's 2 for 2 on that one. I'm not really liking that track record but he thinks it's great because he doesn't have to deal with mean JoAnna that way. Lucky kid. He really does work hard for us though, which I really appreciate because his money buys me pretty things. KIDDING!

Sometimes he works too hard, but it's not his fault. He's good at what he does. At least I'm assuming he is because they keep promoting him and stuff. I don't really know what he does. I don't ask because I am easily confused. I know that he can learn any language he wants to with ease and that he's one tough dude. I'm pretty sure he could do some serious damage to your face with his bare hands if he had to. I'm also pretty sure you would never want to find that out first hand. I know that he knows a lot about things with lots of numbers and velocity and trajectory and some other stuff that I will never be smart enough to understand. He can tell you all about everything I know nothing about and that is why we are a good balance.

He's also a fantastic father. One of the best. He truly knows that time is precious and that you have to make every second count. When he's home, he spends 98% of his spare time with the kids, which is amazing to me. W loves his daddy unlike he loves anyone else. I know it kills both of them to be so far apart, but it makes their time together that much sweeter. I love watching him with our babies. It makes me happy to know that our kids will always be loved and cared for.

Someday, who knows when, we will get to be a family again and I am looking forward to it, mostly for his sake. I can't imagine what it must be like to have to be away from your family so much. Even though we aren't a complete family, at least I have my kids with me at all times. I don't know what I would do if I had to be away from our kids as much as he has to. He says I'm strong, but I'm pretty sure he's stronger. I know he is. And that is a good thing because we would be a pretty wussy family if I was the one who wore the pants.