Just a few (hundred) words about my roommate. Warning, this likely won't be a very manly post. Skip over to your favorite Ace Hardware or Motorcycle Chopper blog if you want a manly post today. I have other manly things to post about climbing mountains and home improvement projects and tripling my tool collection in the past month. I've got some catch-up blogging to do later. This is for Jaime.
On September 23rd, 2011 we had been married 5 years.
I feel really good about this woman. I hope she keeps on keeping me. I could list off the the ways she impresses me, but I've been thinking about it and I've decided to condense it into three main pieces of amazement.
Her laid back cheerfulness. I only list this because it's to the nth degree. She is what everyone wants to come home to and what everyone desires in a travel companion. She is cheerful, happy and loving enough that it perfectly counters the stress at work or other inconveniences of life that may be invading my busy mind, but she's not so bubbly head cheerleader ra-ra-sis-boom-unicorns-and-rainbows-ba that it annoyingly feels as though she doesn't know what life is really like. If things are going well, she makes them feel even better. If things are tough, she makes them feel fine. She's not an alarmist (like I am sometimes). She's nice. She thinks of others. She thinks of me a lot. She's cheerful in a comforting way, not an annoying way. I'm noticing now as I'm trying to write it, that this is quite difficult to express why this is so impressive in today's world. I figure you either know her and you get it, or you don't and you think I'm just going on and on about something kind of abstract and generic.
When I was in London for about 3 months without her this summer, that time served as a perfect case study for how her presence can clear the clouds of life. Or rather, how the lack of her presence can make a big difference. Now I'm home and kind of twitterpated. Sorry.
Her work ethic. Chalk this up her being raised well. I like to think I'm a crazy hard worker, but I know I didn't teach this to her. I'm sure all that nice stuff I mentioned in the above paragraphs plays an integral role here as well. She's had steady work keeping her busy since we've been married. Ever since the very first week when we I moved her life to Miami, then Boulder, she goes after local jobs and gets them. She has other unexpected gigs offered to her just because people like her so much. She proven trustworthy, smart and very likable and so I guess people throw opportunities at her (mostly to take care of their kids). The thing that really opens these opportunities up to her: She's open to them. She wants to work. Lately she's been nannying for a disabled boy and her brother, babysitting others at night, substitute teaching at Boulder Country Day School and working at Pottery Barn Kids as a seasonal gig, just for the discount.
Now that she's nesting and getting later in the pregrancy, I've been begging her to stop working so much and I think she's starting to humor me this week. I've been working hard for over 5 years so she can afford to do that now. She's got a dog, the pending birth of our first kid, church callings, friends and part time gigs to keep her plenty busy in the meantime until she's got her hands 110% full with our infant son. Her cheerful desire to work and stay busy is nice. I think I'd be pretty annoyed if I married someone who didn't have this important character trait. It would probably be a huge point of tension. Instead, it's a huge motivation for me to keep up with her, and is good for our communal ambition, thus resulting in a healthy level of prosperity for (and in preparation of) our our little growing family. She deserves a lot of credit for that.
Her beauty. She's just getting better and better looking. I love her jaw, her tiny nose, her eyes, her hair, her teeth, her giant dimples and other parts of her body I'll spare description. You know how they say pregnant women glow? Well Jaime glows anyway, so whatever.
I often hear realists warn that marriage is hard. That it's a lot of work. With my limited experience I'd like to counter that with a clarifying correction: Life if hard. A successful life takes work. Marriage, when cared for and your friend and partner is picked wisely, is a treat that makes said life a whole lot better. So stop saying that marriage is hard and takes work unless you're just picking on marriage as one aspect of a general life principle of work.
And if you think I'm just luckier than most, then fine. I can live with that. And no, you can't have her.
Love this girl.
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