Twenty Two Years Ago

In high school I was not the girl with boyfriends. I longed to be her. I had the occasional crush and high school "love", but was never part of a couple. I desperately wanted to be part of a couple. I heard time and time again, "Just wait, the man you do fall in love with will be special. He may even be 'the one'."

Sure enough, I met him in college and twenty two years ago today we went on our first date.

We had a four year courtship before we married and broke up more times than I can remember, but we always came back together. I absolutely adore him. Here are a few reasons why I love him:

The Top 22 Reasons I Love Joe

1. The moccasins he wears until they have holes in the soles
2. His computer expertise
3. The crazy lyrics he makes up to a favorite song
4. The music he sings as he walks through the house (at any hour of the day)
5. Insisting we have "date night" at the hot springs every Sunday
6. The way he assembles things
7. His determination to make it through Seminary
8. The passion he has for preaching
9. Accepting hemophilia in our lives from the very beginning
10. His cold toes and fingers
11. His love for trivia (Jeopardy)
12. The way he puts our little one to bed with a "tickle fest"
13. He always wears a sweatshirt at the first hint of cool weather (even if it warms up to 90)!
14. For committing to driving 4 hours round trip, once a week to get our oldest to boys choir
15. never complaining when I need him to go get a gallon of milk late at night
16. For his "Wild at Heart" sense of adventure
17. His courage to change careers and follow his heart's desire
18. The way he plays the piano
19. The love he showed to my parents
20. Because he loves our sons more than life itself
21. His faith and belief in God
22. Because he loves me, just the way I am

Joe Keith MacDonald, I adore you, and thank God for you. You have changed my life into something so completely different and better than I ever dreamed it would be. Here's to another 22 years.