Sometimes I'm just not a very good wife. Today is Tom's birthday and I was totally unprepared.
After work, I made a mad dash into town to do things I should have already taken care of...like getting him a present (or three - thanks for the tips, Robert!), a card, and picking up a cheesecake.
(Dinner, by the way: steaks HE picked up yesterday on his way home from work that HE grilled himself tonight. He prefers the ones he cooks over the ones I cook, but that's beside the point.)
I know he doesn't care - he always says birthdays aren't as big a deal to him as they are to me, but still...I need to show him how much he means to me...how much I appreciate the fact that he's alive and that I'm glad he picked marrying me and living in Texas over taking off for adventure in New Zealand or somewhere years ago, like he had planned to do before he met me and Texas became a big anchor holding him in place.
Soon after we met, I looked through his photo albums and marveled that someone hadn't snagged him yet. He was so cute, so adventurous, so independent, so eager to have fun.
Case in point...after high school, he enlisted in the Coast Guard, then hitchiked alone from his home in Maryland all the way across Canada and back before reporting. He was stationed in Kodiak, Alaska and he went prepared to have fun - he pulled a boat behind his old Ford van, brought all of his camping gear, bought a good camera, a dirt bike and rapelling gear (and an old juke box, currently project #336), and had the time of his life.
He said some guys got up there and just complained that there was nothing to do. They couldn't wait until their time was up and they could get back to the lower 48.
And that's one reason I fell in love with him - he's fun! Well, most of the time. No matter where we are or what we're doing.
I'm not sure how staying in Texas with me appealed to him more than heading off to New Zealand or somewhere for more adventure, but I'm glad it did.
In honor of his birthday, I decided to scan some of his old photos, to save them for posterity.
He really hasn't changed that much! Once a cutie, always a cutie!
Happy birthday, Tom! I love you!