To say that I am blessed with this kind man of great soul and patience, of support and kindness, of wit and heart... It is truly the most significant understatement there is. I am beyond blessed having him for my soul mate.
But I waited a long. freaking. time.
And I dated every asshat in Chicago. Culled through all of them in Cook and the collar counties. Many in Sangamon county. A couple in Coles county. One in Champaign county I recall. My gal pal Lisa called me "the asshole magnet." She said if they were within 100 miles, they would ask me out.
You get the idea. A lot of frogs, several nut jobs, one fiancé along the trail. And finally at 34 with little hope of meeting anyone with any sanity and/or stability, here came the hubs.
His secretary introduced us. I was waiting outside the door of the room where he was training new sales reps (to have lunch with one of them) and she insisted I should meet him. "Sally, he is so sweet and such a nice guy!" Noooooo Lottie, he's from Jersey, drinks 2 pots of coffee a day and annoys the crap out of me.
Fast forward a few months later at a happy hour with all women, one of whom was his boss. As we all regaled in "worst date" stories, he stood silently by and had one beer and left. His boss said, "Sally, he was here for YOU!" The following Monday we had lunch and I discovered Lottie was right, he was wonderful. Despite the coffee all day :)
One day waiting for him for lunch, the other secretary in the training department asked if she could tell me a story about him. New love interest so of course you can tell me stories!
Emma was in what I thought was her early 40's or late 30's at that time. Beautiful African American gal who had an amazing spirit and laugh. She told me that she had asked the guys in the department if they had, or knew anyone who had, a suit for a gentleman at their church who played the piano. The gentleman was homeless and no longer wanted to be in the front of the church playing because he didn't have proper "church clothes." She put the word out to try and find some for him. She said in her culture, church was the time to really dress up and she wanted him to have special church clothes.
The next morning, in came the hubs and requested Emma join him in his office. In a suit bag he had a suit, shirt and tie for her gentleman at church. He told Emma that she was to give it to him but not to put a story behind it. She was to present the outfit to him as HIS new church clothes, just for him! He commented that they were his, not hand-me-downs, and his dignity was the only important thing in the gift that was to be considered.
I fell in love a little more.
The morning of the day we got married, the doorbell at my parents' house rang. I had just gotten out of the bathtub, mom was not home and neither was dad. All I could think was REALLY??? Tossed on a robe, opened the front door.
There they were. A vase with 3 red roses. And a note. "One for you. One for me. One for our new life together."
And nearly every anniversary since I get 3 red roses and a similar note.
Tolerant. The man is a saint. With a great sense of humor. He has survived menopause with me and a nasty bout with 2 strains of Bartonella. Bartonella, by the way, is a disease with a key symptom of "combative behavior." Yeah, try enduring menopause AND that at the same time if you're the hubs. And I'm still alive.
He's not only tolerated but supported my love of animals and all of the rescue "events" I've drug him to and through. A previous post told of our transports and how much we love driving the dogs to new fosters or furever homes. But he has survived other "rescue runs" with a great sense of humor.
One cold Saturday morning we were up early and I was reading my Facebook page. A friend has posted that there was a deceased dog, white and fluffy, at the on ramp to the interstate at an exit in our town. I mentioned it as I sipped coffee. It haunted me. I got up to go change and the hubs asked what I was doing. I said I could not let that poor pup lay there without its family being notified so they could get it. I called our animal control officer who is an amazing gal and works Saturdays at our vet. She mentioned she could not get there until after work.
Off we went. He was not about to let me go alone.
We pulled off onto the shoulder of the exit and he made me stay in the car. If the pup was in bad shape he would not let me see. As he returned to the car, he dialed our animal control gal on the cell. "False alarm girlfriend, deceased bathroom rug on exit 2."
It was a fuzzy white rug. A deceased bathroom rug. Thank you God :) On more than one level.
As I breathed a sigh of relief, my loving hubs asked if breakfast at our local dive bar would be in order. Of course. I owed him at least that. He's unflappable. He's my rock.
I will most certainly write more about him as I go along. He's my saint. And as we are about to celebrate 20 years of marriage, this man I waited so long for, I acknowledge how very blessed I am to have had God drop him in my lap in my late 30's. I had given up and was certain I would never find anyone like him. I don't tell him often enough...
Here's to you sweet guy, I love you more :)
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