30 Things for His 30th

Someone is turning the BIG 3-0 on Friday.  And since you all know I'm old and already reached that milestone, that really leaves one clear answer......The Boy from Texas!  That's right, kids, he's joining the club of 30-is-the-new-20 (whatever that means).

In celebration, I've compiled a little list of 30 things I love about that husband of mine.

1.  He calls me out on my crap.  Sometimes I don't love this....like when he tells me not to be snarky or that my shoes are "ridiculous," but in the end, I love the fact that he has opinions and that we can discuss (sometimes loudly) when mine differ.  He helps me to be better.  I need that in my life.

2.  He has the biggest heart.  Out of the blue, he'll say something like "next Christmas, let's pay to have lights put on those people's house, they seem to be going through a hard time" or "there was a guy who was washing windows at the gas station today to try and pay his electric bill, so I gave him a $20."  I. adore. this.

3.  His baby blue eyes.  I'm a sucker for blue eyes.  I sincerely hope The Baby from Texas comes out with these same features.  The Boy from Texas' grandma assures me they are very strong genes!

4.  How he giggles at tv shows.  It makes me laugh to see this big, manly, guy giggle like a girl at something happening on MASH or Top Gear.

5.  His broad shoulders.  I love how he's strong and makes me feel tiny.  I realize that come two months when I'm trying to push out a kid who may have inherited said shoulders, my tune could be very different....

6.  He cares about details.  Example:  When our contractor called me to ask what color of door knobs we wanted, I said, "Um.....are there different ones?  Aren't they all, like, sliver?"  When I told The Boy from Texas I chose silver, he said, "Oh my gosh, no!  All the others in the house are black (I think there was some fancy name other than black, but you get my drift).  If we ever want to re-sell this place, no one will buy it without matching door knobs!"  Thank goodness one of us cares about these things.

7.  He loves animals.  I caught this when a horse he raised from a colt got colic.  I saw it again when our dog, Chili, died a month or so ago.  Now, I see it a lot when he's playing with Angus.  If someone doesn't like animals, I am just not sure they are good people.  No worry with him.

8.  He always has to be doing something.  The guy can't sit still.  He's constantly shredding or researching or starting at the addition making plans.  Having grown up with a dad that is the same way, I feel like that's how boys are supposed to be wired.

9.  He thinks before he speaks.  I'm a talker.  I'm sure you are all shocked by this.  Oftentimes, I blurt out whatever comes to mind without even thinking it through.  He's much quieter, he listens, thinks, and then responds.  I envy that.

10.  He's embraced his inner sheep shower.  Fortunately, he was a shower---of cattle, pigs and horses.  But since we started dating he's become quite the sheep kid.  He has shown them in pictures for our website, is excellent at blowing out legs at our sale, and we often have discussions about buying ewes and starting our own flock.

11.  He's protective.  At least once a week he says something like, "If anyone messes with you on that trip, I'll come down there and [fill in the blank with whatever physically violent outburst is appropriate.]"  And although my response is usually, "No, no, we don't use our fists because we have a baby now," I kinda dig the fact that he wants to fight for me.

12.  He wears the right jeans.  After living in the city a couple of times in my life and seeing what poor men try and pass of as jeans, a good, country boy in a nice pair of Cinch Jeans just makes me happy.

13.  How my head fits right in his shoulder.  Like two puzzle pieces.

14.  He's a good dancer.  This was high on the requirement list and he succeeded in meeting it.

15.  How he talks about his great-grandmother.  When we were moving our wedding gifts into the kitchen and throwing away our old stuff, he grabbed some old, ratty pink and white towels and said, "NEVER throw these away, they belonged to my grand grandmother."  This was my first sense of their relationship.  I've since learned that she babysat him while he was growing up and based on the fact that every time we discuss our kid going to a baby sitter he shakes his head and repeatedly says, "We just need my great grandmother" over and over tells me it was a pretty good time they had.

16.  He refuses to eat chicken salad, but loves scones and sushi.  He's mostly a real meat-and-potatoes kind of guy, but it makes me smile to know that he enjoys fancy fare like scones and sushi.

17.  He's going to be a good dad.  From his faithful response to the genetic screening situation, to how he reacts when he feels the baby move in my belly, to him saying, "Take care of my boy" when I leave on work trips, I know he's going to nail this fatherhood thing.

18.  He loves my family.  If you've read this blog for any amount of time, you know my family is crazy.  We're big, loud, opinionated, and forceful.  The Boy from Texas embraced them and fits right in.

19.  He doesn't overthink things.  It's good to have one of us in this relationship about whom that can be said.

20.  He's funny.  You've all read my series "Funny Conversations with The Boy from Texas."  So you know.

21.  His sweet tooth.  Once, when I made cookies for dessert, his response was, "What?  No ice cream to go with them?"  A man after my own heart.

22.  He, too, is anti-Disneyland.  We've got a plan not to ever tell our child that a place like Disneyland exists.  So long as my Aunt Evil Kineval doesn't ruin said plan, we think it will work.

23.  He'd give you the shirt off his back.  He's a good person, sometimes to the point I feel like he gets taken advantage of and get angry, but he just continues to pour out kindness to others.  I should take some lessons.

24.  He has embraced my friends.  I've got quite the group of friends.  Loud ones, quite ones, tall ones, short ones, red ones, blue ones, and he's embraced them all.  Although I do think he secretly has a favorite, he always speaks kindly of them, asks about how they are doing, and seems to genuinely enjoy time with them.

25.  He's a shopper.  If I'm honest, most of the time this actually annoys me.  I hate shopping.  I want to go in, grab what we need, and leave.  He prefers to tour the store, look at everything, discuss when (and why) we need some random piece of equipment, then go home and research it online so we know---in the future should we ever need to buy one---what a good deal will be.  Again, good thing one of us enjoys this kind of thing.

26.  He just knows things.  Constantly he'll know how something works or how to fix it or the answer on Jeopardy and I ask, "How in the world do you know that?"  He just does.

27.  He's up for traveling to fun places.  Our list includes Ireland, the Grand Canyon, an Alaskan cruise.....

28.  He's accepted this blogging thing.  I honestly thought this might be a major issue.  He's a pretty private person and frequently comments on the fact that "because of that blog, everyone and their dog knows my business!"  Despite not loving that, he has seemingly gotten over it and now reads the blog and the comments and submits to assisting me with scoring new recipes and the like.

29.  He's everything I'm not.  I remember 10 years ago when SoulMate Friend was about to marry Tuba Man.  At her shower, she made the comment that she knew it was right because he was everything she was not.  Ever since, I held that little tidbit in my heart and when I found The Boy from Texas, I knew he fit that bill for me.

30.  The way he loves me.  I never thought I'd find someone who loves me as much or as well as he does.  And of everything, I love that most of all.