Thoughts about my husband

When I  was a child I spoke as a child, I thought as a child.  It took me a long time to grow up, in fact I am probably not totally grown up.  One thing I have done is mature in my feelings.  When Phil and I got married, I loved him.  But now as we have lived together, and worked toward building our dream my feelings have changed.  I am no longer looking at him with little girl eyes (not that I was a little girl when we got married!!) but with eyes that hold the appreciation of someone who always has my back. 

We have worked together to build gardens to feed us, and rejoiced the bounty of the harvest.  He has carried and hauled tons of straw and hay for mulch in the garden.  He has pounded countless posts into the ground to build fences to keep the deer our.  He has carried an amazing amount of jars up the basement steps and then after I have filled them, back down the steps.  He has carried my canners for miles up and down those steps.  He has helped me lug our harvest from the garden into the kitchen to prepare it for storage.  Along the way he has enjoyed some amazing food as well!

He was not excited about following my hearts desire to raise animals.  That didn’t matter he brought in a shed to make into a chicken coop.  He built a fortress for the chickens to sleep in and a huge yard for them to run in.  We raised 150 birds for meat last year (we sold 75% of them), this year we will do that many but not all at the same time.  He has complained about them, but also loves them.  He knows each of the laying hens by name, and sometimes can tell me what chicken laid which egg.  He didn’t complain to much about getting rabbits, and now that we are about to have our first litter, he is as excited as a child.  Pigs, well we will talk about that next year.

My point to all of this, I have the great fortune to be married to my best friend.  He has rescued me when I got a flat tire on a very cold and snowy day.  He rescued me when the tire fell off my car on the interstate.  He has bandaged my cuts and blisters.  He has dried my tears and let me cry when I was sad. He has encouraged me to do what I needed to,  cheered me when I failed.  Loved me when I felt unlovable, walked beside when I am strong, and behind to push me when I am weak.

The road will never be smooth, but without the bumps how can we appreciate the downhill side?