i tell them i love them, but do i tell them why?
i tell them i’m proud of them, but do i elaborate?
sometimes i do, but not nearly enough.
today, i tell them that they are my unsung heroes and shero, and yes, i tell them at least some of the reasons why (to list all the reasons would get us into bandwidth issues) . . .
my husband, andy has been my hero for 36.5 years now, and here’s why:
he makes me laugh. sometimes he cracks himself up more than he cracks me up, but he still makes me laugh.
~~
he listens when i talk (well, not like i’m some e.f. hutton. i mean, sometimes his eyes glaze over, but we’re working on that).
~~
he will go to the grocery store with me just because. once, in the days before cell phones, he figured out where i was and just showed up in the spices aisle to help me get groceries then we went home and put them up together.
~~
to this day, we hold hands wherever we are.
~~
he shares the scepter (read: remote control) to the television. he may leave the room when i’m in control, but he shares.
~~
willingly and without complaint, he helps members of my family.
~~
he is wicked smart, talented, creative, and funny.
~~
he gives me cards. now, honestly, it used to make me mad that he gave me store-bought greeting cards. but then i had this small-huge shift in thinking and realized that he spends a lot of time sifting through racks of cards in search of one that says what his engineer-trained brain can’t quite articulate. or maybe it says what he doesn’t even know he wants to say until he finds the card.
my son, kipp. my hero because . . .
he knows that you can learn more about humans and their relationships from poetry, music, and literature than from any psychology class or textbook.
~~
he edited my thesis, and when it was done, he asked if he could share it with some of his friends (who then became my friends from ensuing conversations.)
~~
once, on a trip to hawaii, he surprised me with a handblown stylus and inkwell set because he knew – he just knew – how much i would enjoy the scratching of nib to paper and how much i needed to allow my brain to exhale and make room for all the important things that get buried and shoved aside under burgeoning to do lists and overcrowded calendars.
~~
when he landed in l.a., he took a job delivering food to learn his way around.
~~
he is an adventurous eater, something he learned all on his own.
~~
he writes poetry, songs, and essays; does open mic events; is an actor and skydiver – all this and balances his checkbook.
~~
we go to movies and shows, and afterwards to dinner or for drinks and discuss what we just saw from as analytical deconstructive creativists.
~~
he is willing to say “i don’t know” right out loud.
~~
he is wicked smart, talented, creative, and funny.
my shero is my daughter, alison. want to know why?
she ran for local city council then the state legislature before she was 25 years old. (and in the state legislature race, he was in a run-off with the older male career politician. lost the runoff only by a slim, slim margin, too.)
~~
she started a local theatre company in 2005, and it’s still going and growing.
~~
she supervises my hair stylist and goes clothes shopping with me.
~~
in 2006 she hit a rough spot with depression, and i just kept putting one foot in front of the other, doing what needed to be done. a year later, she directed steel magnolias, casting me as m’lynn to her shelby. coincidence? i think not.
~~
as a beautiful, articulate, talented public figure in a small town, she receives more than anybody’s fair share of other people’s insecurities and bad behavior. yet through it all, she remains the bamboo – bending but refusing to break. she is tenaciously nonconformist.
~~
she is wicked smart, talented, creative, and funny.
~~
she can do genealogical research and retain what she uncovered.
~~
if you need to know what to give a person, call her. she knows people better than they know themselves.
~~
she speaks her truth. others may not understand or agree, but she speaks it anyway.
yes, i am one lucky woman. luckier than i deserve.
best09
~~~
the stories are mine, but credit for the kindling goes to gwen bell and her best of 2009 blog challenge. today’s prompt: who is your unsung hero?
~~~
Technorati Tags:
#best09, #bestof2009
Oh, I feel like I know you better now – after reading about your wonderful family. The “kids” – “wicked smart, talented, creative, and funny” – makes me think of a saying my great-aunt used to have: the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree…and then hubby, well – obviously you also know how to pick apples…grin.
You ARE a lucky woman, but as I’m getting to know you I would add — your family is very lucky too – you’re a gem!!
aren’t you sweet? picked my husband up in a bar in underground atlanta. 36 years and counting and we still haven’t told our families the entire story!
Oh, I feel like I know you better now – after reading about your wonderful family. The “kids” – “wicked smart, talented, creative, and funny” – makes me think of a saying my great-aunt used to have: the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree…and then hubby, well – obviously you also know how to pick apples…grin.
You ARE a lucky woman, but as I’m getting to know you I would add — your family is very lucky too – you’re a gem!!
aren’t you sweet? picked my husband up in a bar in underground atlanta. 36 years and counting and we still haven’t told our families the entire story!
You are a lucky woman, and you have created an amazing sounding family. Congratulations! So few people find the kind of relationship you describe you have with your husband. I’m so glad you are in that contingent! xo
they are amazing, emma. they really are.
You are a lucky woman, and you have created an amazing sounding family. Congratulations! So few people find the kind of relationship you describe you have with your husband. I’m so glad you are in that contingent! xo
they are amazing, emma. they really are.
I’m going to have a big crazy smile on my face the rest of the day after reading that. I can only imagine how it must make your family feel to read all the little details about them you appreciate. Happy holidays!
I’m going to have a big crazy smile on my face the rest of the day after reading that. I can only imagine how it must make your family feel to read all the little details about them you appreciate. Happy holidays!
A beautiful testament to a beautiful family. Inspires me to want to do the same for mine. Thank you! Oh, and I think its so wonderful about the cards. My mom and I used to have a tradition at the holidays where we’d bake cookies and watch the sappy Hallmark Hall of Fame movie. The best part were the Hallmark card commercials, like little short films, some maudlin and some brilliant. Instilled a love of cards in me for life.
A beautiful testament to a beautiful family. Inspires me to want to do the same for mine. Thank you! Oh, and I think its so wonderful about the cards. My mom and I used to have a tradition at the holidays where we’d bake cookies and watch the sappy Hallmark Hall of Fame movie. The best part were the Hallmark card commercials, like little short films, some maudlin and some brilliant. Instilled a love of cards in me for life.