40 years of Aaron Blaine

My hubby's 40th birthday was Friday. My mom snuck to our house at midnight Thursday night and scared half our neighbors by sticking a birthday sign in our lawn. Edna. Aaron begged me to NOT do anything for his 40th. My dear introverted husband. Just so ya know, I better get one heck of a party for mine. I am NOT an introvert. at. all.

So I woke up Friday, got the kids up for last day of school, dragged things out til the last minute when I had to go to work and finally woke him up. You gotta be able to sleep in a little bit on your 40th. I found a babysitter for Judah so he could have the day free. Yeah. I am such a good wife. He wasted most of it working on his therapy notes at work, but whatevs. It's his day. He then went to Menards and spent lots of money we don't have on flowers and what not because he loves to do our landscaping. I didn't complain about the price. Much. My high expectations for THE actual day were, well high. I expected perfection from the kids, perfection from God, from everybody really.

The kids were horrible. I will spare you the details but I screamed at them all because we all were in tears by bedtime. I said, "Today didn't count as your dad's birthday. This sucked. Tomorrow is a total re-do." I felt so bad about it. Of course the laid back Aaron said it was fine. Everything is fine.
We listened to my brother Jay's sermon today about relationships and marriage. Aaron said afterwards, "So I am the CEO eh?" Apparently I didn't listen close enough because I was clueless what he was saying. Later we discussed it and we realized how incredibly far we have come from those horrible first years of marriage and figuring each other out. Coming from 2 very different homes where each of our Dad's were both very different and we each had different visions of what the Dad AKA Leader of the House should look like. I used to ask God why he didn't match me with somebody who was more assertive, more domineering, more vocal, more....more leader. Why did I have to be the one to say "Table for 2" when we go to a restaurant? Why couldn't he be more like...more like my Dad?

Fast forward a handful of years dating and 15 years of marriage: I love this man. Let me tell you a few things about how this man IS The Leader in our Home. He's the first to forgive. The first to say he's sorry. He takes care of everything that breaks, falls aparts, needs fixing. I never hear him complain. About anything. Ever. He's a silent giver/doer. He takes care of my parents and things around their house a lot!! He rushes out the door when I come home to help me carry things inside. He makes my coffee for me in the morning. He clears the dishwasher because I hate it. He plays and plays and plays with our kids until they are all tired and happy. He loves Jesus. There's nothing sexier than a man reading his Bible. He lavishes our children with gifts. He buys me shoes and clothes. He cleans the house and does the laundry on a regular basis. He makes me laugh. So very hard. Especially when he tries to make the noises our farts make. His energy never runs out. Not even at 40. He teaches our children when I just constantly nag. He tickles the kids' faces at night before bed like his mother did him. He listens and listens and listens to me even after a day where all he did was sit in his office and listen to his clients. He makes our bed. He encourages me with notes and verses stuck around our home. He makes excuses for me to relax and not feel guilty about it. He drinks my green smoothies even when they don't taste the best. He's hot. Have you seen his tatt on his back? I love it. He cleans every spill on our gag-me carpet - sorry that our son knocks something over at least 1x a day. He encourages me to quit my job to stay home with the kids. He reminds me that he didn't get his master's to be rich but instead so he could work less and spend more time with me and the kids. He graciously will move his restless leg syndrome body to another bed at night at times so I can get some sleep. He was happy when I told him I was pregnant at 37. He willingly got a vasectomy after Judah was born. He likes to make me happy happy happy by being my hero, my knight in shining armor. He enjoys being that guy. He looks for ways to be the kids' hero when I constantly look for ways to correct them. He balances me out. I love him. I respect him. I love every OCD issue he has because he wouldn't be Aaron without them. I love ya, babe. Happy 40 years of life. You lead this Detwiler Family strong and proud.