The kind of man I married...

This morning I had things planned rather tightly.  I had two dogs that belong to friends here for a sleepover, so I was up early to take them for a nice walk.  Then I did animal chores, prepared my weekly deposit from work, and then bathed, dried and brushed one of the dogs that had stayed here.  I had to leave the house by 9:30 to get Bravo to a training class at 10:00.  Chris got up early so he could take my truck, which was filled with bags of trash and bins of recycling, to the transfer station.  He didn't want me to have to drive all the way to class with a truck bed full of things that might fly out.  He timed things carefully, and filled my truck with gas while he was at it.  He takes great pride in filling my gas tank each week so that I never have to do it.  He pulled into the driveway at 9:29, truck pre-heated, tank full, bed empty, and a bonus.  A fresh donut, which he had carefully wrapped and stashed over the defroster vent so it was toasty warm when he handed it to me.  Ahhhh.

He had spent the time while I was gone running errands and catching up on laundry. We had more than usual due to being without electricity for a couple of days, and because, to be honest, I stink at doing laundry.  When I got back I finished grooming the visiting dog, and then Chris suggested that it would be nice to go for a little drive and grab a bite of lunch out.  I mentioned that a favorite store was having a big sale, and I happened to have a generous gift card to that store from my nice sisters-in-law.  "Saddle up!" he said, and we were off.  We had some excellent seafood and I couldn't help but notice that several other couples in the place sitting, eating, and not talking.  Chris kept the conversation humming along, and I laughed so loudly a few times that heads turned.  This guy is never boring.

Next he took me to the store with the big sale, and waited very, very patiently while I tried on a lot of things. He weighed in on color choices when I found a very cozy jacket to buy. Back in the car he took an unexpected detour and explained, "You'll want ice cream." Well, of course I would. I always do.  He treated me to a cone and we headed home.

Chris works hard at a job that marries complicated technology and users of that technology.  He has this amazing gift of being able to explain the perplexing working of computers, cell phones, tablets and the like, to people, without ever seeming condescending.  4 days a week he has a one hour commute each way, and one (or sometimes more) days he also has to drive an additional hour or so to different offices.  Many a day he leaves the house by 6:00 AM and does not get home till after 7:00 PM.  He never complains. But on the weekends he really, really, likes to indulge in a nap. And he likes it even better if I join him.  By and large I am not big on sleeping in the middle of the day. Napping can make me oddly grumpy. So most times I'll go snuggle up with him and read a good book. This time of year, when the temperature is a bit crisp, my hands, arms and shoulders get cold because they are not under the covers, but rather, are out in the air.  And sometimes after I've clutched the book for a long time I get to feeling really chilly, and I'll set the book down and draw the covers up over my icy skin.  And then I feel drawn to my husbands warmth. "The furnace of my being glows brightly," he often quips, and when one is feeling chilled to the bone, snuggling a very warm husband seems like a good idea.  So I snake my frozen arms around him, feeling a pang of guilt because I know how perfectly horrible it feels to be all warm and somnolent and have someone who is the opposite of warm touch you.  He never flinches.  Instead he wraps his big arms around me, pulling me tight, and sharing his toastyness. That's the kind of man I married.  Warm donuts, warm conversation, and endless patience, even when confronted with frosty skin.