Top Ten Reasons I Love My Wife

Today is our eleven-year anniversary, so I thought I would publicly applaud Laura’s wonderfulness. Here, in no particular order, are the top ten reasons I love my wife:

She’s supportive – I put Laura through a lot. Too many times I’ve come home to find her frazzled from watching the kids all day. All she wants is a little quiet time away from the kids or to spend some time with me, but when I tell her I’m sorry, that I have to run off to another meeting or to go out with the missionaries, she never complains. I couldn’t have accomplished all that I have without her at my side. There are days when it’s hard being away from home so much, between work and school and teaching and church responsibilities, but I always take comfort in knowing the house and kids are taken care of and that Laura supports what I’m doing. Plus, when I told her she would have to leave her family and Boise and truck to the other side of the country so I could do even more graduate work, she never hesitated. And when I get down on myself and doubt my decisions she reminds me of the bigger picture.

She’s a great mom – Laura hates it when I say “you’re a great mom” when citing the reasons why I love her. “Gee, thanks,” she says. “That’s what every woman wants to hear.” I think she’s looking for a more romantic answer, like “My heart turns to Jell-o every time I see you,” or something. But it’s true. She signs the kids up for soccer and piano and basketball and gets them to their games and practices and helps them with their homework and teaches them how to read and buys them arts-and-crafts supplies and takes them to the library and washes their clothes and cleans up their messes and kisses their boo-boos and gets them to church on time and laughs at their corny knock-knock jokes. She’s a fantastic mother.

She forces me off the couch – Laura and I don’t argue much, but when we do, it’s usually on my day off, and it usually involves Laura wanting to do something fun and me wanting to just sit on the couch and catch up on my Scrubs episodes. But she always wins (she ALWAYS wins), and we end up spending the day in Boston or at the beach or at a museum. I think New England would be wasted on me if it weren’t for her.

She mows the lawn – She does. Every week. Now if she would just figure out the weed-whacker, my life would be golden.

She’s a great cook – Remember how skinny I used to be before I met Laura?

She is funny – One of my faults is that I don’t laugh out loud very often. When I watch comedies I’m usually pretty quiet, which bothers Laura because she thinks I’m not enjoying the movie. Unfortunately, I’m the same way with Laura. I don’t laugh nearly enough at the funny things she does and says. She really is a crack up, and she can take me from a grouchy mood to a good mood with just one comment. She also maintains a very funny blog. Half the things the kids do aren’t nearly as funny and cute as when Laura retells it.

She’s smart – And she’s humble about it. I often take too much credit for the brains of the bunch. When people compliment us for how smart our kids are, Laura usually says they get it from me. She’s just being kind, probably because she feels bad that everyone already knows that the kids got their great looks from her. But most people don’t realize how often I have to ask Laura to explain things to me, like how our medical insurance works, which still baffles me. When we watched John Adams together, I saw a lot of similarities in Laura and Abigail Adams, who was the real brains and voice of reason in the relationship.

She’s beautiful – I remember sitting at Shari’s restaurant while on a date with Laura. I don’t think we were engaged yet. I kept looking at her nose and thinking, “My word, that’s a perfect nose! I want my kids to have that nose.” And, as luck would have it, they do. Or at least they don’t have my beak. She complains a lot that she looks frumpy when cleaning the house or mowing the lawn, but who doesn’t look frumpy when they’re working in sweatpants and a T-shirt? Even then, I still think she’s gorgeous. And she cleans up real nice too!

She loves God – If it weren’t for Laura, I probably would have stopped going to church years ago. It was particularly hard after the twins were born, and then again when I started my master’s degree. But no matter how tired or frustrated I was with going to church after two hours of sleep and wandering the halls with fussy babies, she made me do it. And I appreciate it.

She laughs at my jokes – They’re usually potty jokes, which I know she hates, but she laughs anyway. One of these days I’ll get her to finally “pull my finger,” and she’ll see how hilarious it really is.