NOTE: I am reposting this in celebration of our anniversary this week.

This is my man. The love of my life, truly.

When I first met him back in 1987-or-so, during a middle school church youth group trip to the swimming pool, I don’t recall being very impressed with him. He was about 13 then, exactly the same age as my older brother, and most boys that age just aren’t very impressive –especially when you are the 12-year-old younger sister of one such creature and especially when they are both showing off on a diving board.

However, by the time we met again in high school, things had changed. We started dating my sophomore year, and the rest is pretty much history. In fact, today happens to be the 15th anniversary of The Day. The Day we hiked into the Olympic National Forest together. The Day we only briefly glanced at the stunning Sol Duc Falls. The Day he dropped to one knee, pulled a sparkling ring out of the front pocket of his blue jeans and boldly asked me to marry him. 

I said “yes” right away, because I already knew then what I know now. He is a phenomenal person. I am so proud of him and so honored to be his bride of 14 years.

In honor of The Day, here are 15 somewhat-random reasons why I love him:

1. He loves the Lord and genuinely seeks to follow God’s will. He has a servant’s heart, and he is passionate about serving the Lord. He even courageously went “to the ends of the earth” to serve on a short-term mission trip.

2. He loves me. And he tells me so. Even when he was far away in Nicaragua, out of cell phone and e-mail reach for 10+ days, he made sure I knew he was thinking of me. In advance, he hand-wrote 10 little love notes and had them delivered to me — one each day we were out of contact — along with a red rose. It was terribly romantic. The elderly flower delivery guy at the grocery store still remembers me and all those roses! During one delivery he commented, “Either he’s in a lot of trouble, or you’re one very special lady.”

3. He tells me I’m beautiful, and he treats me like a lady.

4. He’s an amazing daddy who loves his little girls, plays alongside them, reads to them, watches them dance and tells them how beautiful they are.

5. He’s way smarter than me. He is so much better at math and science and anything mechanical, which tremendously compensates for my serious shortcomings in those areas. 

6. He plays guitar. He’s very passionate about music, and he uses any spare moment to pick up either his acoustic guitar or his electric one and strum merrily along.

7. He sings. A lot. And loud. Lots of my readers know that he sings at church and some know that he sang “When You Say Nothing at All” to me at our wedding. (Insert collective “Awwww….”) But he also sings nearly without ceasing, in the garage, in the van, in the kitchen, at work. He sings such a variety of songs and jingles — old, new, country, rock, alternative, Christian, etc. He even has goofy, made-up songs to annoy me and the girls. 

8. He’s a very likable, natural leader. He’s always leading people and projects, getting things done at work, at church, at home and even on the boat! He even leads conversations quite frequently, and people really like him. My entire extended family seems to really, really like talking with him about all sorts of topics — from boat motors to politicians to theology. Sometimes I even wonder if they like him better than me!

9. He works hard at his job and cares about doing what’s right more than he cares about making money.

10. He’s a big-picture, visionary kind of guy. He can see the potential in people, things, and projects, and he doesn’t get held back worrying about details.

11. He encourages (sometimes pushes) me to do try things I’d never, ever dream of trying on my own, like sailing in the Gulf of Mexico and ice fishing.    

12. He uses his mechanical engineering talents to repair stuff like cars, home appliances, boats, snowblowers, lawnmowers, bicycles, and toys.

13. He compliments my cooking, and even in the process of losing 65 lbs., he saved up his entire daily carb allowance to eat just one of my chocolate cupcakes after dinner.

14. He grew a cape and took on “super-hero daddy status” when our firstborn arrived by C-section. He changed nearly every diaper while we were hospitalized, and he helped with night-time feedings, laundry, meals and countless household chores while I recovered. He was also a huge help when our second child arrived, entertaining the big sister, washing dishes, and folding piles and piles of pink laundry.

15. He’s creative and constructive, so he builds things like furniture, kid-sized canoe paddles, boat seats and tiller-covers. And he constructs things like backyard playsets, patios and finished basements.

I could think of many more reasons why I love this man and why I am so thankful God put us together as husband and wife. I could also say “he completes me” and “he makes me want to be a better woman” and about a dozen other movie lines from romantic comedies, but I’ll spare you those!

He’s my best friend, and I love him dearly. I am so glad he popped “the big question” 15 years ago, and I am so blessed to be his wife!