Jack has celebrated another birthday! I take heart every time he blows out some candles because his age catches up to mine, lagging behind only a year. He still jokes that I robbed the cradle. I tell him he simply likes an older woman.
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| He actually tried to walk out the door wearing this to work, thinking it matched! Gotta love his sense of humor. |
I’ve know Jack since he was a scrawny fifteen year old with a ‘fro that robins could have nested in. One year for my birthday, he took me to the barber and got a clean cut because that’s what I’d quipped to his mother that I wanted. Now he lets me cut his hair to save us a bit of money and he doesn’t even complain that much when I make a mistake…
Six months after giving birth to Claire, I’d reached my slender weight goal with strict diet regimen and frequent trips to run along the bike trail with the girls tucked in their double jogging stroller. I was feeling awesome about myself until I started doing push ups. In an age where magazines tout how quickly women bounce back from pregnancy by having said mothers posing in bikinis on the cover (I think a tummy tuck, a little laser treatment and gobs of photoshopping is part of the magic), I was mortified by the wrinkled, saggy udder that hung down from my otherwise svelte body during pushups. I tried my best not to cry and after the girls were in bed, I confessed my frustration to Jack. He got a funny smirk on his face, went and got a pen and drew a face on my stomach. Weird yes, but we proceeded to laugh for at least half an hour. That loose skin eventually tightened up (au naturale too!) but regardless, Jack has never had anything but compliments for my self-conscious self, pregnant, chubby or fit or soft and saggy.
Just about everybody loves Jack even though he can be incredibly blunt and has shoved his size 13 foot into his mouth a time or two. It’s been a fantastic journey watching him step up to the role as patriarch of our little family, being a wonderful father to the girls, always treating me like a lady and his best friend, working hard to support our desire for us to stay at home with our children and volunteering numerous hours in service to others all while fixing up our house and attending school full-time, maintaining an impressive GPA. If I’m gloating, I’m sorry. I do feel incredibly blessed.
We’ll be celebrating with barbecue, blueberry cheesecake and a new three-piece suit (Evie already made sure to tell him the day it arrived, not that he couldn’t divine what my gifts to him usually are). He still had to work and had a phone interview for a permanent position, but the girls and I are hoping to make it a little special and out of the ordinary for our guy.
