One of a Thousand

One of the joys of having Mike work out of the house is that we have the opportunity to communicate with each other throughout the day.  Sometimes it is about work, he unloading the latest with his employees or what new adventure he is embarking on or that he'll be working late to get a project done and could I, please, take boy number three to football practice, please?!?

Other times we talk about family issues:  the state of the budget or Nickel's latest grade on a test or where we will take our next monthly weekend trip.

Sometimes, just for grins, I sit in Mike's office for a few minutes without saying a word, looking at what I sent to the printer or playing him back on Words With Friends or getting a feel for how his day is going.

But, maybe the funnest thing we do almost daily is what I like to call the spelling game.  It has become art with a script around here.  And it goes like this:

Mike:  "Spell preemptive"  (It comes across as a plea crossed with a demand for information every.single.time., as if he will absolutely die a slow, tortured death if I don't meet his demands immediately.)

Me:  "p-r-e-e-m-p-t-i-v-e" 

Then I wait for it, it being the end of the script.  The time when he will utter the words that allow him to rely on me without giving up his sense that he actually DOES know something about spelling but simply needs to bounce it off someone else, to be doubly sure:

Mike:  "That's what I thought."

This little spelling game of cat and mouse, with a completely predictable, comforting ending is high on my list of things I love about spending all my days with my husband.  It isn't fancy, it doesn't cost anything, but it makes both of our days better.  And, by golly by gosh, it keeps me on my spelling toes!

In our lives together, this is just one of a thousand things that I dearly love about my husband.

The longer we are married (15 years in just over a week!), the more I realize it is the simple things that make us work.  It doesn't take extravagant gifts or long vacations alone or restaurant dates with linen-covered tables to make me appreciate what we have.  It's the simple, day-in and day-out living that make me, and us, tick.  Quite simply, when we focus our attention on those facts, we have a blessed, happy home.

Thank you, Lord, for my loving, amazing husband.  He is a treasure to me and to our children.  Your plan to bring us together was perfect.  Let me never lose sight of what a gift you've given me.  Amen.