Ann’s crazy about organizing her stuff. She can literally spend hours doing nothing but moving things around. Everything she owns has a place…everything! If I set something down and leave the room, it’s usually gone when I get back. In fact, some of our biggest fights have been over me not putting things back in their place. Can you believe that? There are other things that I sometimes gawk at, like her making the bed when we are in a hurry and no one but us will be seeing it. I mean, why make the bed if you’re just going to sleep in it again? My parents gave up trying to get me to make my bed at about age ten.
And, oh, can Ann be a laundry nut. She insists on doing laundry as soon as she can fill the machine, sometimes even twice in one week. Once, she even made me take the clothes I was wearing off just to get every dirty piece of laundry clean. She wanted to make sure there was a full load, to save water and soap, I guess. So great, there I was, sitting in my office answering precious metal calls in nothing but my underwear for a few hours while waiting for my pants to wash and dry. Was that really necessary?
She’s also CRAZY about animals! I used to tease her about her uncontrollable, redonkulous compulsion to cuddle and baby talk stray animals. I mean, who the heck stops the car to go and talk to a cat? Does she really think the cat understands her bending over saying, “You are the cutest critter I have ever seen!” on the side of the road? How embarrassing would that be if someone saw us? I used stay in the car, and if it was a busy street I’d have to duck behind the steering wheel. No use having us both reported to the mental ward, I used to think to myself. 🙂
And yet, after only a year four months of marriage, I’m beginning to not only appreciate, but love the very things about Ann that previously drove me crazy.
Without Ann I would be a complete mess. Being clean and organized is a blessing straight from God. With Ann, everything has a place and it’s so easy to find stuff. She really is gifted, and aside from me hanging my towel up, she really doesn’t put that much pressure on me. She is so efficient at keeping things in order that it is rarely a big task to straighten things up. The wildest thing is that I now like things organized and find myself naturally tidying things up. We currently manage three online businesses, a non-profit, and a blog from a mobile office…I honestly could not do what we do without her.
Something else really weird has happened to me since I got married. I am beginning to develop a mild case of Multiple Pet Acquisition Disorder (MPAD). MPAD is a progressive illness that can lead to one day having little dogs wearing sweaters, hairless cats dining from lead crystal, and parakeets romping around on elaborate miniature jungle gym sets. Those with MPAD eventually irrationally adopt lots of animals. I haven’t followed through with any of my irrational desires yet, but recently I caught myself talking baby talk to a stray cat in public. And even when I’m alone driving, if I see a lost dog I stop the car and try and perform an Animal Planet pet rescue. I suppose my wife’s craziness has rubbed off on me.
Just petting a cute critter triggers a chemical secretion in Ann’s brain that makes her go a little crazy. As I began to see how filled with life Ann got while cuddling with critters, I started to like them too. Now, I find myself really loving on her cats Harry and Georgie (her two hairless cats), but mostly Georgie. There is no doubt that someday we will have a house full of adopted animals. I can’t wait.
To be honest, I have the best wife in the world. She is a woman full of hidden treasures. Where in the world would I ever find another girl who can keep up with my adventures and yet daily challenge me like she does? I doubt Christian Mingle.com has a very large list of girls who are rock climbing, skydiving, scuba diving, world traveling, Jesus loving, expert road tripping bloggers in their database. On top of that, my wife has an absolutely brilliant mind. Before going to her graduation I would have guessed that a Summa Cum Laude was a girly drink at Starbucks. It turns out that through her entire high school and college career, she has never ever gotten anything except an “A” grade!!!! I didn’t even know this was possible until I met her. Ann is actually a genius, just look how good she writes. If I were to list all of her traits that amaze me, even aside from her breathtaking physical beauty, I would fill an entire book. Some nights I lay there and wonder how I ever got such an amazingly wonderful bride to fall asleep with. She must have been a gift from my heavenly Father because I sure don’t deserve her.
It’s so easy to let little things bug me, and then I take my amazing wife for granted. I just did that again last night, dang-it! Instead of listening to Ann’s beautiful heart I offered her my frustrations. What a dooffus, I can be. How do I so often lose sight?
God made it clear in Genesis that “It is not good that a man should be alone.” He was so serious about this that He killed Adam, took parts of his soul and flesh to make Eve, and then resurrected him to the sight of her. Our souls are designed for marriage. I’m finding that as I die proverbially I am more and more in awe of the wife that God has given me.
Here is my short prayer: Dear God, thanks for giving me such a wild and amazing wife. Please continue to deepen my love and appreciation for her. Help me to never forget really how wonderful she is. Take away my selfishness and help me to sacrifice more and more. I pray these things in the name of Jesus.
Have I ever wondered what life would be like without my wife? Of course, I have. That’s the question that Lee Brice’s wife asks in his song A Woman Like You, and he comes up with the following answer:
Here are the lyrics from Lee Brice’s song: A Woman Like You
Last night, outta the blue
Driftin’ off to the evening news
She said, “Honey, what would you do
If you’d have never met me”
I just laughed, said “I don’t know,
But I could take a couple guesses though”
And then tried to dig real deep,
Said, “Darling honestly…
I’d do a lot more offshore fishin’
I’d probably eat more drive-thru chicken
Take a few strokes off my golf game
If I’d have never known your name
I’d still be driving that old green ‘Nova
I probably never would have heard of yoga
I’d be a better football fan
But if I was a single man
Alone and out there on the loose
Well I’d be looking for a woman like you.”
I could tell that got her attention
So I said, “Oh yeah, I forgot to mention,
I wouldn’t trade a single day
For 100 years the other way.”
She just smiled and rolled her eyes,
Cause she’s heard all of my lines
I said, “C’mon on girl, seriously
If I hadn’t been so lucky, I’d be..
Shootin’ pool in my bachelor pad
Playing bass in my cover band
Restocking up cold Bud Light
For poker every Tuesday night, yeah
I’d have a dirt bike in the shed
And not one throw pillow on the bed
I’d keep my cash in a coffee can
But if I was a single man
Alone and out there on the loose
Well I’d be looking for a woman like you.”
She knows what a mess I’d be if I didn’t have her here
But to be sure, I whispered in her ear
“You know I get sick deep-sea fishin’
And you make the best fried chicken
I got a hopeless golf game
I love the sound of your name
I might miss that old green ‘Nova
But I love watchin’ you do yoga
I’d take a gold band on my hand
Over being a single man
Cause honestly I don’t know what I’d do
If I’d never met a woman like you.”
