My wife, the awesome

I had a talk with a friend a couple weeks ago, and he told me he respects Sara and I for how we've been able to raise a family while both attending school.  Because our lives have been (and probably always will be) abnormal, I forget that the typical college student is not married and does not have two children who are five years old and under.  It's easy to lose sight of how well we're doing, and it was timely praise that I was very humbled to hear.  To the folks keeping score at home-  if you have a compliment for someone, then tell them and don't just assume that they see what you see or believe what you believe.

I am not bringing this up to boost my ego- Lord knows I don't need anymore of that action!  Nor am I posting this because I want you to buy my book.  I don't even have a book.  Besides, you already bought it.

No, I want to talk a little bit about how awesome my wife is.  She's probably going to kill me for posting this- and that is one reason why she's awesome.  Seriously though, Sara doesn't get accolades that she deserves.  A big reason for this is that we live in a patriarchal society that general reserves the most praise for tangible, bottom-line driven results.  When raising children, your successes are often unquantifiable.  In business terms, you are pretty much 'operating in the red' for...well, at least the first five years. Maybe longer....

So why is she so awesome?  Well I'm going to tell you.  I'm going to give you a list of reasons why my wife is awesome.  I'm going to use the word 'awesome' so many times that you're going to get sick of it.  You will become numb to the word 'awesome' and it will lose all meaning.  You'll drift through time and space until finally you are reborn as a white wizard- or something.

Yeah, they used to call me Gandalf the Grey...TIL I BECAME GANDALF THE AWESOME

Roll call.  My wife is awesome because:

1. She loves me for who I am and allows me the freedom to explore my boundaries.  I've never felt I had to fit a certain image.  I've never been pressured to be a certain way, or to scale back.  That doesn't mean I haven't changed, and it doesn't mean that she doesn't challenge me on things.  But I've never felt like I had to fit into this box or that demographic.  I've been allowed to explore myself to the very depths of my soul.  I've been able to say things and write things that pushed envelopes- things that have allowed me to discover more about my humanity.  I wouldn't be able to do this without her.
2. My wife is awesome because she's just as open-minded as I am.  We both know that life is complex.  Neither of us has all the answers.  And so we constantly push each other, question each other, and challenge our pre-conceived notions in order to continue our growth as people. 
3. If I can wax a little materialistic here, my last two Christmas presents have been a smart phone and a laptop.  That's fricking awesome.  For my birthday last year she bought me Street Fighter IV and a new PS3 controller.  That's fricking awesomer. 
4. She puts up with me.  As awesome as I am, I'm also not the easiest guy to stomach for long periods of time.  I can be selfish, irritating, and moody.  I tend to zone out on stupid things like the Internet and sports.  Sure, I do things around the house like dishes and laundry- but I pretty much steer clear of cleaning the bathroom and cooking (which, ironically, are two of my favorite places).  Lesser women would not be able to endure the sheer weight of my insufferability or have the patience to stomach my idiosyncrasies.     
5. She is an awesome mom. She's very tender and doting with our kids.  They love it when she comes home from class- their faces light up, the cheer in their voices goes up an octave or two, and they immediately go into hiding (inside story).  They shower her with love when she tries to nap on the couch (sorry hon).  I couldn't ask for a better mother to my children- not publicly, anyways.
6. KIDDING 
7. Now here's the thing- she's an awesome wife and an awesome mother.  I'm sure there are lots of awesome wives who happen to be awesome moms too.  So why the blog post? 
8. Because she is not just an awesome wife/mom combo- but she is an awesome wife/mom AND a full-time college student who is in the music program.  Being a full-time college student is a work-load all to itself.  In addition to going to class, you are expected to do reading, research, papers, and other various assignments throughout the week.  Throw in the whole 'mother to three children' thing (not a typo), and it makes it even more of a feat.  But then you take into consideration that she's a music major, and you really start to appreciate the tremendous sacrifices that she makes.
9. I want to expand on the sentence that I left off on in #8 while adding another paragraph (and thus, another number).  I feel that even if I say all of the right things, it won't mean anything if my list is short.  If there aren't many numbers on my list, it will look like I'm a compliment cheapskate.  That usually equals sofa time.  Which is kind of like Hammer time, but without the stair steps and pants-by-the-yard.



Obviously when you said "Can't touch this", you were talking about your legs.  Because there's no way that anyone is finding legs in that sea of flowing Rayon Polyester.

10. Now where was I?
11. Oh yeah, that's right.
12. So being in the music program is like being in any other collegiate major- except moreso. Not so much reading and writing (although there are those things)- but there is quite a bit of out-of-class responsibility.  10 hours/week of practice time.  10 concert/rehearsal attendances per sememster.  Classes that meet for 4 hours per week but are only worth 1 credit hour.  There's also extracurriculars.  A second choir.  Leading a vocal jazz ensemble.  Moonlighting with the jazz band.  Participating in Friends Of Jazz (which helps put together Jazz Fest at NMU every year).  NATS.  Winter semester Children's Opera.  Music program requirements are the price that one pays for having a passion like music.
13. Any single piece of the puzzle would make my wife an amazing woman.  Everything put together makes her beyond awesome.  My wife is the complete package.  In this era of rapidly shifting gender roles, my wife has been able to not only spread wide the wings of her feminine independence, but also shoulder some of the traditional matriarchy as well. She's Proverbs 31 AND Song of Solomon.  Mind=blown.
14. Did I mention how beautiful she is?  Probably not.  Because as beautiful as she is (and she's awesomely beautiful), the strength of her character and depth of her soul is  infinitely more beautiful (but she's smoking hot).

So yes, my wife is insanely awesome.  I know this list of pieces, even when taken together, is still woefully incomplete to show how busy her life is.  And yet still, her awesomability is off the charts.  I love her with every fiber of my being.  Every day, I thank God that I got to meet her, and was able to sucker her bamboozle somehow win her affections in return.  It's been quite an interesting journey- full of bumps and hills and valleys and many assorted trials.  We haven't done things normal in any stretch of the world.  We've both made our share of mistakes.  But I wouldn't want to live a day without her in my life.  I love you Sara.  I love you, and I don't care who knows it.  Unless they're from Russia.

Pic- Ian McKellan- http://www.mckellen.com/images/0857.jpg
MC Hammer- https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsEk10acD9Ok9qO9tdqVGjoXq-E0HYt6KALQIBz-OO4igBMPmFfql4SKFx-0D9GtJzFGlIxTVpcWwdIjEJnm4YFxUoxaaXTRAoXUZt4PHEiE2dUt8ABjUZXACzj2uV8GewZ34nBkNKau_Q/s1600/MC-Hammer-picture2.jpg