So here I am, 7:30pm at DFW…watching the sea of humanity pass me by, waiting for my flight to board, now 30 minutes later, to begin MaryRuth’s birthday celebration in Utah. As we all know she is just a bit sentimental, which for me is both good and bad. Good because everyday can be a party, bad because I can potentially drop the ball and hurt someone’s feelings. So one of the things MaryRuth would like is for me to write a blog entry…. which if you know us at all, I’m not really good at doing. This is goes doubly for emails and im’s, oh and phone calls. So here is my small list of things that I treasure about MaryRuth. This is in no order of importance, or enjoyment.
1. The way she laughs. Now we have all heard her laugh, BUT there is a real special laugh that she does when something has really grabbed her. It is a totally and completely, without shame laugh, lots of lack of breathing and crying. It’s truly one of my favorite things.
2. How she deals with her girls. I’m not the best at dealing with teenage girls. Most women can’t deal with them, but MR really can get to them. She has a way of breaking them down, all the prissiness, and shyness, shrill and hiding from life girls, and make them feel loved and happy to be at church. EVERY Sunday, she will hug ALL the girls and tell them she loves them. And she means it. And all those girls know it, and its makes me happy, that they feel her love.
3. She tries. Now this must sound strange, but it’s really important to me. No matter that it’s changing how she arranges her flower, and keeps them alive, or working on a new plan on cleaning the house. MaryRuth really doesn’t give up, she just changes tactics. Sometime this doesn’t work out, and she gets discouraged, but she still gets in there and fights.
4. Sci-Fi movies. Now I could have put this into the trying thing, but it deserves it’s own number. No, she still really hates, no…enjoys less, my beloved sci-fi. But if it’s important to me she’ll give it a try. Ask her about Firefly; I’m slowly pulling her over.
5. Kung Fu and Japanese Horror movies. See above.
6. Technology. This is something she has grown in passion for. And it is a real kick to see. OK, this makes me happy because, well I love gadgets and MaryRuth is beginning to love it with me.
7. Traveling. This is something she has become a pro at. now we don’t take a lot of trips together, but when we do they are ton of fun. It could be the 10-hour drive or the 30-minute trip to the stake center, we have a good time and she NEVER complains.
8. Games. She loves them, I love them, sometimes we love them together…a lot of times we get competitive. I don’t like to lose, and no matter what she says, neither does MaryRuth.
9. Naps. Some of our most relaxed and intimate times have been lying in bed, ready to sleep and talking. These are truly special times for me.
10. The “Let’s Pretend,” game. I don’t like it too much, but for MaryRuth it’s her favorite game. I give her a hard time about it, but if she stopped, it would be horrible.
11. Playing Wii together. Lets just say we could become hopelessly addicted, and still not know really how to play the tennis game. See #1 for further details.
12. Devotion to the gospel. This is super important to me, and to her. Sundays we go to church, she gives her all to her calling, and we make almost every event pertaining to those two items as possible. And we have our missionaries over, but that’s really fun and we do this even if we were inactive….which we’re not.
13. Loves to read. One of the reasons we are married.
14. She loves the color Pink. That’s just cool.
15. Loves how I cook. All the really bad things for you, but tastes real good food.
16. She wants every one to have a good time.
17. She is so kind. That’s something that comes from deep down in the soul. Even when she’s mad, she still is kind.
18. She’s smart. Now sometimes she feels she’s not, but don’t be fooled. When big decisions need to be made, not only has she done the homework, we have lists and pages to support her decision.
19. She likes to learn. See #18.
20. Scrapbooking. Well what can I say, but this list will make it into a book.
21. She steals sips of my with lemon. Of course if you ask her about this little habit, I am of course lying.
22. Movies. Even though we don’t see eye to eye on the films we should see, #4 & #5, we have a good time having movie days together.
23. Family. She loves her’s and mine. Once again that’s just cool.
24. She won’t back down from a challenge. This is not the bad kind of challenge. It’s the let’s move across county and makes it work, kind of challenges. She meets them head on and makes the best of them.
25. She gets excited. It makes life fun.
26. She’ll stand up for herself. She is very kind, but pushed too far she has that firm voice that comes out and we know that play time is over. It’s cool to see that one any one else but myself.
27. She’s dedicated to our marriage. OK, for most of the people reading this, this item may seem like a no brainer. But we have had some rough time with deaths, serious illnesses, moving, and such. Whatever we go through in our marriage it’s not in the marriage, but outside forces imposing into our relationship. I can not express how much of a comfort this is to me.
28. Loves to have a party. Some very happy time have been had at our Mardi Gras and Christmas parties. See #20
29. Her love of holidays. All of them.
30. Sonic runs.
31. She’s who she is. MaryRuth doesn’t pretend to any thing else but MaryRuth. And that’s just cool. Well, as we can all testify to, she is practically perfect. The only thing MaryRuth should work on is loving Doctor Who as much as me. See #4
Happy Birthday hon
Love, Joey