his birthday umbrella post

Forget the royal wedding hoopla stuff. Let's talk about my totally funny mental moment I had this week...

(Prepare for a run-on sentence) I was thinking back to the half serious joke (is that an oxymoron?) I made in last Friday's post about starting my own "Umbrella Friday" when I had this realization that this Friday was my hubby's birthday and usually I do a post to honor him, soooooo I would not be able to really make good on my half serious joke about "Umbrella Friday" because I would post a nonumbrella picture of him instead. But theeeeeeennnnn, I was going through some pictures of him to post and I came upon these...

Friends? Is this awesome or what?! This could not be any more perfect. You should have seen my face when I discovered these pictures.

These were taken in China Town on our fifteenth wedding anniversary. The hotel had lent us this tent of an umbrella and we walked the several blocks from our hotel arm in arm, tucked under its shelter.

This guy is the best. He has been through some crazy tough times these past couple of years and has come out of it stronger, wiser, and deeper. This weekend we are going away to a beach condo with friends to celebrate him because this guy, this year, needs to be celebrated.

We will celebrate his friendship.
We will celebrate his humor.
We will celebrate his humility.
We will celebrate his heart.

There have been times over the years that I have been awed at his willingness to face the toughest parts of himself, his willingness to admit wrong, his willingness to dig deep into knowing himself better. This is just one of the threads of consistency about him that has caused me to love him more and more. I know that I am extremely blessed to have a man such as him.

I know that the whole world will remember this day because some royal couple got married with 2 billion people watching (my wedding attendance was .01% of that--I think--my calculator wouldn't compute that many zeroes), but in our household, this day is always the event of our year because we love him so much.

Pal...there are so many people who love you, including a very great and good God who out-loves us all.
But today, on your birthday, know that I love you with a full heart. I am so very proud of you are as a man, hubby, and father.
Happy Birthday!
T