Dear Husband, You Are My Everything – An Open Letter to the Love of My Life

Dear Husband,

Fourteen years. It’s mind-blowing to think that we have been part of each other’s lives for fourteen years, isn’t it? On one hand, it feels like a lifetime and on the other hand, it feels like I met you, blinked my eyes, and now here we are.

I know I'm not the girl anyone imagined that you'd end up marrying, but I will say it every day until the day that I draw my last breath - I'm glad that a fire was ignited inside of you when it came to me and that you picked me to be the one to spend the rest of your life with.

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Just think about how boring life would have been had you not fallen in love with me. You probably would have married a woman who doesn't laugh, cry, and snort all at the same time. She probably wouldn't drag you (sometimes kicking and screaming) on road trips or turn a deaf ear to your complaints and insist you won't die if you try new kinds of culinary dishes.

If you hadn't picked me, you wouldn't have become the dad of a little boy who is the spitting image of you but who has the personality of his mama and who loves you so much that he prays every night that you'll lose your job so you can stay home with him all the time. Yeah, about that. I've tried telling him praying for daddy to get fired isn't cool but he wants so badly for you to be stuck to him like glue. I get it because I feel the same, I crave you and want to spend all of my time with you.

Speaking of being a daddy, had you not picked me, you probably wouldn't have ever had a boy who calls you, "husband" (because what kind of mother other than me would allow their child to?) or who asks you to make a top hat for a fruit fly (I'm still puzzled how you're going to pull that one-off).

Had you not picked me, you wouldn't have instantly gained an additional two sisters and four brothers who are very loud and passionate (translation: a little bit scary sometimes). Or, a mother-in-law who gushes about your intelligence every time she speaks your name or a father-in-law who loves to tell you endless stories about cars while you struggle to keep your eyelids open.

You probably would have never lived in a place where the deer press their noses to the bedroom window to watch you sleep or where the bears decided to make a surprise appearance at your bonfire.

And, you definitely wouldn't have ever attended a church with a full band, including a tattooed guy who plays electric guitar because you probably wouldn't have married someone who feels music as deeply as you (and I) do and you'd probably be spending your Sundays sitting on a hard pew struggling to stay awake during the worship service.

I know. This sounds so self-serving and self-praising, but it's not about me on your birthday. Really. It's about you. It's about the fact that you picked this wildly unpredictable nomad to be your wife, taking a flying leap into the unknown because you knew in your heart that it was the right leap to make. It's about celebrating the big wide world that you've allowed yourself to discover and all of the new things you've tried and the ways you've expanded your view of life in the last fourteen years. You've embraced new cultures, new ideas, and opened your heart, mind, and ears to the differences of others.

I am so thankful that your life is anything but average and that you have such an adventurous spirit. On this day of your birth, I celebrate your rebellious self who broke away from your comfort zone to discover a much more adventurous (and sometimes scary, let's be realistic) life.

Thank you for bringing a whole lot of crazy into my life because I know there will never be a dull moment with you. I have enjoyed (almost - insert honesty shrug) every second of the last fourteen years with you and can't wait to see what sorts of adventures (and predicaments) we find ourselves in over the course of the next fourteen.

Whenever I hear the song, "The Good Ones," by Gabby Barrett I get choked up because only you know all the ins and outs of the road that led me to you. You loved me, you didn't give up on me and, you had the patience to wait for me to figure out that I loved you, too. And I do. I do so very much.

You'll know him when you see him
By the way he looks at me
You'd say he hung the moon
I'd say he hung the galaxy
Nobody does it better
Oh, the way he pulls me in
I've known a couple bad ones
But they all led me to him. - Gabby Barrett

Happy 33rd birthday. I love you. With all of my everything, I love you and I am so thankful that you took a chance on me.

Love,
Traci