16 years blessed by him

I started this blog post, got about four paragraphs in, then deleted it.

You see, today is our 16th wedding anniversary and I started to write about "wedded bliss" and how I think that term is a load of shit. (excuse the language, but seriously.)  I started to write the real stuff of marriage of 16 years and I'll say this real quick and then move on.

The real stuff of marriage is hard, friends.  Marriage is hard.  It's the hardest thing I do on a daily basis.

And not because of Josh, but because of me.

Moving on.

Josh and I are here, this sixteenth anniversary, 16 years married because of him.

Because he is faithful.

Because he is kind.

Because he thinks of me before himself.

Because he puts the toilet seat and lid down.

Because he has a heart 10x bigger than the normal person.

Because he gives.

And gives some more.

Because he is patient.

Because he is slow to anger.

Because he has really nice biceps and back muscles.

The list could go on and on.  It really could.  And if you know him, you're nodding your head.  He's all sorts of amazing, and for some reason he stays married to me.

I have given him reason upon reason to send me packing (and there was that time I did) but he chooses to love me.  He chooses to stay.

I have a lot of favorite things about Josh, but I'll share what I feel is my very favorite.  And it makes me laugh to say it's my favorite because it used to be the thing that drove me the most crazy.

The part about Josh being a giver.

You see, Josh rarely takes time for himself.  He's almost always doing something for someone else.  Whether it's for me, the girls, his parents, or...complete strangers.

There was a time when Josh was still driving long haul and a guy was hitchhiking.  This man was running away from his life as a husband and father.  Josh picked him up, kept him with him for a few days, talked with him, brought him to our home, gave him work, and then drove him back to Seattle to reunite him with his family.

Another time we were on our way to some friends, about 45 minutes east of us, to help them move.  On our way we saw a girl in an older Volkswagen Beetle stranded on the side of the road.  Her car was done.  By the looks of her, she was, too.  Josh offered her a ride, explained we had some friends to help, but she was welcome to come along and on our way home we'd pick up her car (we had our flatbed with us) and take her home.  To Seattle.  She took us up on our offer, helped our friends with us, then we loaded up her Beetle, took her to our house and the next day we drove her and her car the three hours home.

A couple months back I was on my bike when I saw a guy stuck and needing to be towed.  I stopped my bike, asked if he needed a tow, and while reluctant to accept my offer of sending my husband, he took me up on it.  I called Josh, explained the situation, he dropped what he was doing to hook up to the flat bed and drive to the town next over to load the guy's truck up and take him home.

There are so many more stories about him doing random acts of kindness.  I'm sure there are so many I don't even know about.

He never gives it a second thought.

Because it's always his first thought.

"How can I help?"

And then he's there and then he does.

Always the giver.

I watch him and I am in awe.  It makes me love him even more when I see him taking care of others and their needs.

So this marriage thing.  This thing we've done for 16 years has been made possible because of Josh.

I hear it at least once a month from one person or another, and I'll tell you here, I am very lucky to be married to him.

Don't think a day goes by that I don't know it.