What I Like About You

In September, I was supposed to make a point of telling my husband and those I talk to things that I appreciate about him.  It was something someone started to help women encourage their men.  So many times we who are wives find the negative things about our husbands and point them out, but leave out the positive ones.  Clearly this does nothing to promote a good relationship.  (Incidentally, this was also a part of my marriage vows, so it was a good reminder to me to continue working on keeping them.)  I have to admit that I didn't say the one thing every day that I was supposed to, but the idea was on my mind.  Since I didn't follow through, and as it was just Thanksgiving and my hubby is definitely someone I am very thankful for, I thought I would make a list of 30 things I love about Darryl - one for every day of September.  It is by no means comprehensive, nor is it ordered in any significant way.  I don't think writing this list makes up for doing something on a daily basis, but it was a good exercise for me.  :)

1. He cleans up after supper.  I don't think he likes doing it any more than I do, but he does it anyway.

2. I don't think I have taken care of the garbage or recycling since May.  Neither have the kids.  Yet it always gets done.

3. His chilli is yummy!

4. He cuddles me when I'm upset, and is ok with "I don't want to talk about it" when he asks what's bothering me.

5. He takes Justin to the park to play.

6. He takes kids where they need to go.

7. He took Caleb out to shoot things for his birthday.

8. He takes Charisma shopping (and I know he doesn't like shopping any more than I do).

9. Dani has little "posters" that he made for her hanging on her bed.

10. He wrote a bedtime prayer just for Daniele.

11. He cares about what I want.

12. He tells me I'm beautiful.

13. He still gets distracted when I he's talking to me and I start changing. ;)

14. He does laundry.

15. He syphoned the gas from our old van so we could put it in our other vehicles.

16. I have never heard him yell (at least not in anger).

17. When we go to the beach with the kids, he goes in the water to play with them.

18. He is completely supportive of everything I do.

19. His sense of humour matches mine (though I'm not sure if this is really a good thing :P).

20. When the kids have games and concerts, he goes to watch - not because he has to, but because he wants to.

21. Day in and day out, he goes to a job he does not enjoy for less pay than he deserves in order to keep food on our table and a roof over our heads.

22. He believes that spending time is more important than spending money.

23. He gives me a goodnight and a good morning kiss every day.

24. He makes me laugh.

25. We can engage in some pretty good verbal banter.

26. We have been together for over a year and have never fought.  Disagreed, yes.  Fought, no.  This says far more about him than me.

27. Mac over PC - he agrees.

28. He's not the jealous type.  If I talk to a male friend, he does not suddenly become concerned that something inappropriate is going on.

29. He's an awesome dad and step-dad.

30. He loves me. :D

A Teenager in the House

My daughter just turned 13.  You know what she was looking forward to the most?  Getting Facebook.  Not being a teenager.  Not taking that one step closer to adulthood.  Facebook.

So she got her Facebook account.  Of course, I made her add me as a friend.  Actually, to be more correct, I added myself as her friend.  I was helping her set up her account, and there I was, so I clicked "Add Friend."  I don't stalk her, watching her every move, but I do check in from time to time to see what is up on her page.

What I have noticed is that my little girl is growing up.  Now, obviously I have know this for a long time. The girl is my height, has bigger feet than I do, no longer has a stick figure and has been borrowing my clothes for over a year now.  We go hang out together, and have real discussions.  But there's something different about watching the interactions between her and her friends.  Seeing a discussion about whether or not a boy called her sexy. (I'm going out to buy a gun tomorrow, by the way.)  Realizing that she is slowly but surely (and yet far too quickly) moving into womanhood.

It'll be an interesting few years, I'm sure.  Fun, exciting, frustrating, scary.  And on the other side, I'll realize how few the years actually were.

You know what else is scary?  Now that she has Facebook, she'll likely find my blog.  Not sure how I feel about that...

Happy birthday, Charisma.  Love you.