Him

My husband is a tenured Professor with a PhD in World History. He has accomplished a lot in his lifetime but if you ask him he would disagree with that. He also feels as though time is running out. He's past his twenties and therefore he has no more time to accomplish what he wants to accomplish. Mm-hmm. Silly boy.

That being said, a year or two ago he surprised me by telling me he's interested in art. Specifically drawing and ink pens. He can be found with a pen or pencil and a note book at all times now. I. love. it.

He decided he'd like to take a class to help him progress in his new-found hobby. Great idea. We checked out Michaels and he signed up for a class. We purchase the items on the supply list and soon dropped him off. He went in with a smile on his face and came out with...well, not as big of one. There were three students in the class and the other two were two adorable sisters who were probably around eleven and twelve. They were much better than he, he'd proclaimed as he climbed in the car. He'd learned a little but was certain those classes were not for him.

On his own he continued to grow and progress. Sometimes he didn't see the progress, but the beauty of being a bystander is you definitely get to see the progress. I continued to point this out and some days he agreed. Some days he didn't.

One day my phone dinged and it was a text from him:

"Should I buy these online art classes? They are discounted 90% and are $10. I just don't know if I should."

"YES!! DO IT NOW!" I texted back. He did and he has loved those classes! He has gotten so good, too. It's been amazing to watch him.

The above picture was part of a facebook daily challenge with another group. Most of what he draws are things he can see. This picture was just from his mind and it touched my heart. It's different than anything he's ever done and it looks much simpler (although I know nothing about drawing. It was probably difficult!) but in one glance it told a story. A love story. Our love story.

We were so young when we met. I was fifteen and he was barely sixteen. We dated occasionally for a year and became exclusive boyfriend and girlfriend about a year later-my junior year, his senior. I danced. He played the trumpet and was a student body officer. We attended all the school dances together and had such a great time.

He graduated and headed to college on a full-ride trumpet scholarship. I began my senior year. He still lived at home to save money for his mission and we still attended all the dances.  He would surprise me at lunch every so often. Weekends we were inseparable and man the hours we spent on the phone! Makes me wonder how he pulled off those 4.0's his first year of college. Oh yeah. He's an overachiever. And I'm pretty sure he didn't sleep. :)

Soon I graduated and headed off to college. I moved to an apartment near campus thinking I was finally out of the house and ready to be on my own. Soon after, Kim left on his two year mission to Sao Paulo, Brazil. If we had a nickel for every time someone said I wouldn't wait for him we would have had our grad school paid for. The only person who didn't discourage me was my sweet grandmother. She would happily ask each time I saw her how much longer until he was home and how I was doing. She was in the grips of Alzheimer's at the time. She attended our wedding but I'm not sure how aware of our big day she was. I'm sure when she passed and her world became clear again, she celebrated for me. I miss her.

Our first few years of marriage were not easy by any means. We were poor college students struggling to find the balance of us. Outside pressures compounded our struggle and it. was. hard.

The loss of our first-born brought us closer. We were told many times that the death of a child will make or break you. I'm so grateful it was not the latter for us. We moved 1200 miles away from the worst of those outside pressures I mentioned above and that helped so much. We took that journey together and only had each other to rely on. It only cemented us further.

Twenty-two years later we have had our ups and downs but we are strong. Sure we have arguments but honestly not that often. We are respectful of one another. We are mindful of one another and we are kind to one another. Watching some of our friends...that's not always the case.

That picture up there? Yep. It says all that plus a bunch more you don't really want to hear about. Our simple love has grown exponentially and the gratitude I feel for that cannot be expressed adequately. At least not by this girl.

Now, we are watching our oldest son's interest in girls blossom. Our almost twelve year old daughter is so boy crazy she's driving us crazy! But, what is breaking my heart is that they are already settling in a way. They have both let love interests treat them in ways Kim and I never would have treated one another. Neither of them are in anything close to a relationship but the communications they have had are not ideal. Our hope for all our children is they will value themselves enough to value those around them and surround themselves with people who value them.

Our prayer for them (and all of you!) is that they will wait for it. Because when you find it? Well, that unicorns and rainbows thing isn't real, but it's not too far off. It's worth. the. wait.