Most days I am up long before the sun, especially in the winter (and that’s if the sun ever makes an appearance).  He wakes in time to shower and gulp down a smoothie and rush out the door to work.  He is reliable and faithful and if he says he will show up, he will!  That’s Bob!!  As I go upstairs to get the girls ready for school I glance in our room and more often than not…our bed is made, with all 10 unnecessary uh hem I mean necessary pillows arranged, and the bottom blanket neatly folded.

It’s one of those little things (one of many)  that make me smile and I often forget to thank him for.  It’s those small daily gifts that are just that…gifts.  A gift is not deserved, not earned…simply a gift.   Like love & forgiveness.  God freely gives, we don’t deserve it, if we just ask we receive it.

Through a year of both business and personal trials…some big, some small and in no particular order…I…at the end of 2014 am humbled and simply thankful.  Thankful for where we are and even thankful for where we have been.   I have learned that life is messy but in that mess is amazing beauty.  The oxymoron that seems to be the most fitting is… the scariest yet most beautiful thing… is to be ourselves.  IN the midst of all of that messy beautiful…I AM  extremely thankful.

As today is Bob’s birthday…I celebrate HIM! 

I want you to know I CHOOSE YOU! 

I struggle to find the right words to thank you for being who you are.  For being stronger than I and being a faithful helper!  To being my partner and confident even when we have felt miles apart…to choosing love and friendship in the midst of the busy-ness of life! 

Thank you for being my tech guy, my researcher, my support…when I hear you talk about ‘OUR’ business although it’s my name, I see you light up and an energy in your voice that inspires me.

For being a wonderful  father to our beautiful girls, a friend and lover to stand by me, to not giving up and believing in us, to being willing to grow together even when there was uncertainty around us!

 I LOVE YOU! 

Because I shouldn’t be surprised you make the bed in the morning, or the non glamorous jobs you do in and around the house…NOR be surprised at the strong man God created you to be.

For the times I take too long to get ready OR make you do a Starbucks run when you don’t understand the language of coffee.  For the times I don’t get the need to replace an engine in an old car, or off road in the mountains…I LOVE YOU!

For lack of a more encompassing word…you are nothing short of AMAZING.

Thank you for loving me in my reality when my reality is fantasy…and when I am stuck, you let me be stuck in my stubbornness just long enough to realize the hope that draws me out. 

This is hardly enough to celebrate you but it’s a start…it may be the end of 2014 but the start of 45 for you.  

And thanks for putting up with my quirkiness (ya that's what it's called)!