That's a Good Man

Whoa! Two in one week. Slow down there, pardner, you say.

So I have to share. I was putting off going to bed (a foolish decision that I continue to make as I write this), and I pulled off the shelf a book I hadn't cracked open in years. It's sort of a primitive scrapbook I made for his birthday--the first birthday I'd planned ever for this brand-new boyfriend of mine. :) He'd been going through a low point his first year in grad school, so I surveyed our friends.

He was a popular guy in undergrad. Everyone at our itty bitty school knew him, and everyone loved him. He might say that's not true, but I was there. I never met anyone at Taylor who didn't adore him completely, and it was because he was intentional with everyone. He made everyone feel special, like someone in the world was genuinely interested in their lives and perspective. At the time I made this book, I'd been trying to tell him this time after time, and he brushed it off time after time. You're saying that because you love me, he'd say. So, I gave it up. I made about forty little cards out of cardstock and passed them out to friends via campus mail. I asked friends to write on this card and tell him what they thought of him. Cards came flooding back to me. I even had people asking for them who hadn't received them in the first place. Some even requested additional cards because the space I'd given them wasn't even close to enough for them. I compiled the cards into a scrapbook and that was his birthday present.

As I flipped through it tonight, two things struck me. One, I realized that was the year he turned 25. 25! Oh my gosh, such a kid and yet such a man. And how lucky I am to be here, five years older even than the man described in the book, and have him living in my house. How lucky I am to have his children call me mommy.

The second thing I realized is the fact that the man described generously by a jury of his peers is the same man I live with today. All of the wonderful things they said are still true.

He would probably contest me on that. But, you know. He was wrong the first time, too.