Friday Family Feature

In honor of his birthday this week, today's Friday Family Feature is my husband, John.

He also goes by Johnny or Johnny-cake, and his other name is Honey, but I don't use it as much as I used to. He is also affectionately known as Nugget, Little Monkey, or Jimmy by a few of his brothers and his friend Chris.

I knew I was going to marry John on our first date. I really did. I can remember opening the door (he was late) and seeing his smiling face, and I knew.

(His holey, baggy clothes won me over I guess. Notice the thumb ring? He stopped wearing that before we got married, thank goodness.)

As we ate dinner that night, I really knew as I watched him dribble fajita juice down the front of his chin and onto his shirt, and it didn't phase me.

We had been hanging out for a month before we actually went on our first official date. I was comfortable with John basically from the day I met him, especially that same Sunday night when he and his roommate (always have to bring a wingman-John's theory) sat around our apartment telling their most embarrassing moments. It was love at first laugh.

The night of our first date, after dinner we went on a walk/hike with my roommate and John's roommate (Becky and Chris who had gone on their first date that night too, I think) up Bridal Veil falls (how fitting, we all ended up getting married the same weekend). We split up at the falls (but no kissey kissing for us) and just sat by the falls and talked. We talked about our families and how important they were to us and how wonderful our parents were. We talked about the things we wanted in life, etc. etc. That night confirmed for me that we had a lot of the same goals, and I knew we were headed somewhere together. (Plus, when I found out his family played Rook too, I knew it was meant to be.)

So, let me tell you a little about Johnny. He has beautiful blue eyes that most always look smiley. His laugh is contagious, and his smile is gorgeous with cute dimples. I've always loved his beefy biceps and calves too. John loves games, like, really loves them. They are like our third child. Technically speaking, I guess they would be considered our first child since we had those before kids. Honestly, the total cost of our games probably adds up to more than we had to pay for both of our children's births. But, that's a whole other post. John likes to play hard, but he works hard to provide for our family too. If it were up to John we would live outdoors and have company every night for dinner and play games afterwards.

John is a wonderful father. He comes home and takes over!! Sometimes he comes home and I hand over the children and say, "see ya!" and he never says anything! A mom needs her sanity breaks, and he doesn't complain that I take them. He's so wonderful! He takes care of bath time and bed time most of the time too. Johnny does the dishes and cleans the bathrooms in our house too. (That was an agreement we made before we got married. He said if I cooked, he would do the dishes; a deals a deal.) He is so helpful! He takes his turn with diapers and feeding the kids. He plays with them and takes them outside to play. Daddy tells longer bed time stories too. My kids are lucky, and I am definitely lucky!!

He is a great husband too. It's the little things (and all the big things in the previous paragraph) that remind me how wonderful he is. Sometimes when I get out of the shower my big, warm, and fuzzy bathrobe will be hanging there waiting for me, and I wasn't the one to hang it there. Isn't that the sweetest thing? Also, if I can't sleep in the middle of the night he lets me wake him up and will rub my back until I go back to sleep (or until he goes back to sleep). The best thing? When our babies wake up in the middle of the night, he gets them and brings them to me. (Don't worry, he falls back to sleep instantly, I am not so lucky) He also lets me put my cold feet under his leg when we watch TV. He supports me in my interests and hobbies, and doesn't complain about crafts taking over every surface of our house.

Our "mock engagement pictures" John is always silly.

Spring 2002, almost engaged

I always tell John, "You knew what I was when you married me, but he could tell me the same thing."

One of the things that drew me to John was how geniune he is. That part of him reminded me of my mom and my Grandpa. So friendly with everyone - no false pretenses. I loved that, still do. He is also silly like my mom was. I needed to have a silly husband, so he could appreciate my silliness too. His funny dressing reminded me of my dad, and weirdly enough that was important to me too. I knew a high maintenance man was not for me. (Although I dreamed after we got married he would turn into the preppy dresser I always hoped for. I have since given up on that dream. We have to choose our battles, and that one got dropped.) I love that he is such a sincere person, and kind to everyone. He is willing to help anyone in need.

I really could go on and on, but I need to save some ammo for his Friday Family Feature next year.

Like a lady he works with told me after I was introduced to her said, "John is one of the nicest people I have ever met, he is such a good person." (Honestly, I get that a lot.) I always say, "I know, that's why I married him."

How lucky I am that he loves little old me.

And, I love him too.