The Greatest Mommy Ever!

I've read various posts on different blogs where a person will write to their lover and recite historical accounts or Greek mythology and then draw inferences between those accounts and their own relationship. Well, I've never been one who is terribly interested in history, and even less interested in the history of love. Nor do I care to spend the countless hours it would surely require me to establish some comparison between Greek god's relationships and the one I participate in within the walls of my own home. Additionally, much to my wife's dismay, I am generally short for terms of endearment as it is. For some reason unbeknownst to me, I have terrible difficulty expressing my appreciation for all she is to me.

10 years ago, nearly to the month, I vowed to myself on the day I met her that she was gonna be all mine. It was the summer of '99 and everybody had come back to Iowa for Mike's mission farewell and the coonfeed. I was 19 and had just finished my first year of college at Wartburg. She was, well.....we'll leave that detail out and you can do the math. And, she was soooooo stinkin cute, and flirty, and funny, and adorable, and athletic, and........ Anyway, the few days passed and she left for home, and left me wanting more (not a bad more, a good more). To this day Gma Jo swears up and down there was only one reason (use your imagination) I asked Wendy to marry me. We spent the next few weeks I.M.ing back and forth til the weeeeeeeeee hours of the morning, much to my future in-laws dismay. I mean, I was a non-member dirthead (Tim's previous term of endearment for me; has since been changed to personal mechanic/laborer) who had no business seeking out a relationship with their daughter.

A month later, Ben and I drove to Utah to see Mike fly out for Zimbabwe (back when you could walk to the terminals). We stayed for a full week at T&B's house. I fell in love with the Utah scenery and decided I was going to move out there. Of course, I had no alterior motives. I returned home and the I.M.ing continued. I told Wendy I was moving out there before September and inquired about a possible dating relationship. Her angelic response: 1. You live 1200 miles away. 2. Your a non member. 3. You have a girlfriend. I though to myself, uh oh, now what? My quick thinking in action responded as follows: 1. I can move. 2. People change. 3. On the rocks. Folks, the rest is history.

What I can tell you is this, I have the most beautiful woman by my side that I have ever laid eyes on, and she has the best relationship with her Heavenly Father of anybody I've ever met, and for that I am eternally grateful. I am thankful for her inability to be satisfied, for always needing to do more, to progress, and to be better than she was yesterday. She is the best mother our children could ever have. I am grateful for her patience and longsuffering and for learning how to live with somebody like myself. And even more daunting of a task, learning how to love me. To all of you who know me, you may find it hard to believe that it could be so difficult to live with somebody so humble, submissive, patient, loving.......as myself, but at times it proves to be a real test. I don't doubt that oft times she even wonders why she said "yes". I am grateful for her acceptance of others and her non-judgemental nature. I am grateful that she loves to make-out with me, because that played a big role in her becoming a mother. I am a lucky man.

I love you baby girl.