My Valentine

Without exaggeration, I can say that I am astounded every morning to wake up beside this amazing woman who has agreed to share my life.  That she does so contradicts every logic-loving brain cell that I have.  However, not only does she choose—daily, chooses—to share my dreams and failures, but she also shares (or in some cases, tolerates):

      ·         my teaching and love of mathematics
      ·         my terrible singing and my attempts at playing guitar
      ·         afternoon naps
      ·         sunrises, sunsets, thunderstorms, and blizzards
      ·         my corny jokes
      ·         the laughter and tears of parenthood
      ·         the toothpaste
      ·         the Church of Francis de Sales
      ·         home ownership (porch renovations, winter with a faulty/failing furnace, washing
             machines…)
      ·         my snoring (she says she doesn’t hear it)
      ·         cycling
      ·         my ipod playlists
      ·         game night with friends
      ·         my love of reading
      ·         vacations
      ·         my side of the family (they are less in-laws and more mutually adopted kin)

Several years ago I told a few of my students that it was easy to be in love while holding hands walking on the beach or under the lights of a summer night in Paris.  But who do you want to be with at the kitchen table, trying to figure out how to pay the bills or cleaning up the bathroom after a child has been ill?  If you can look at someone and say “Yes, there is no other person I want to be with in the tough times—when life isn’t coming up roses,” then you have found the one.

As surely as I know that I am not worthy of God’s love, I also know that I am not worthy of hers.  But she loves me anyway.

Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone.