Happy Birthday

When you write a letter to your husband, it’s supposed to be mushy and loving and all the other crap Hallmark had me buy into (and yes, I got him a Hallmark card because I am obsessed with them and always will be), but more than that, it is supposed to be honest. So…

 

Dear Dave,

Happy 38th year to you. You’ve shown me over the past 7 years that you will never give up on me, on us, on something you’ve admitted you didn’t even think you wanted. I tried to make you leave. I begged you to stop calling. I laugh when I tell people that because, in some way, maybe it makes me feel like I could do all of this alone.

But I cannot.

So happy birthday to you. And thank you.

Thank you for choosing to spend every year as a husband, a father, a friend to your family. We wish nothing but for you to have another amazing year ahead, with more laughter and girl-drama than you can wrap your head around. We wish for you to see what we see when we look at you- a rock in the sea of ever rising waves.

If there were things to buy, I know you wouldn’t want them anyways because, for some strange reason, you dream of giving us a newer home. You work for the days when you won’t have to work as much and ask me, in turn, to stop working so hard now. You give so much of you to preserve whatever is left of me at the end of these days… and in this first decade of our marriage, when we’re doing it all- first home, dog, the kids… I cannot think of anything else to ask for than you. You are my super hero, my calm in the storm, the one who has never given up- even when given the chance.

Happy birthday, handsome. You’re all I’ve ever dreamed of.

Love,
(and Addie and Millie, too)