40! in pictures...

Here are My Last Eight (of 40—in honor of our 40^th wedding anniversary) Reasons I Adore My Sweet Hubby (aka MSH)…in pictures!

In this first one he’s with his older sister. They’re 2 and 3. Is he the cutest little boy you’ve ever seen? I mean, seriously. He admits he was a toot. He has the funniest stories—and some of the saddest—about growing up. In Little Rock, Arkansas and Austin, Texas. (TLC literally cannot listen to some of his heartbreaking stories…things he endured…as a small child and on up to his life as a teenager. I admit—they make me cry, too.)

Here he is at the age of 19. He has hair! (He lost it when he was 24…and I’ve never known him any other way. I fell in love with his eyes and his smile and the truly good person that he is. I didn’t need him to have hair!) In this picture, we all are amazed at how much his youngest son—his 4^th of 5 children—looks like him. Each of his five kids has his traits and genes. They are clearly obvious to us all. But this picture? His 4^th son. JJ. Wow.

Our wedding day. We had no money. We had a very small celebration. We had no photographer. Friends brought cameras and shared their pictures with us. Look at how handsome he was! Melted my very heart. (He still does...) It was a memorable day for both of us.

With Little Leighton (aka LL aka Biscuit) on our back patio about five years ago. We’ve had the honor of having LL stay with us more than any of our other six grandchildren. Even Baby Elle. Our five older grands have all lived in Houston and it’s never been easy to see them as much as we would like. Baby Elle, as our youngest grandchild, has not been able to come stay with us at our country casa because of Biscuit’s school schedule. It was hard to decide on a picture with LL and Pa-Pa. I have many. This one has always been one of my favorites. She is tres excited! He's holding on to her so tight to make sure she doesn’t fall.  He's a Protector Extraordinaire. He’s such a wonderful grandfather. The kind of grandfather I wish every child could have.

With MSH’s Best Friend—Buddy Boo Bear—feeding the catfish at our Big Tank. They’re inseparable. Have been since we adopted BBB eight years ago.  They are the most adorable pair.

One of my most fav pictures of MSH. I popped his collar and took the picture because he needed one to enclose with something for his college alumni publication. Still such a handsome man—IMHO. Winky. Wink.

There are a few people on this Earth who don’t know what a SILLY man MSH can be! He is funny, Y’all. Sometimes it’s on purpose. A lot of times? He’s not even meaning to make me (or TLC or LL or Baby Elle or anyone else) laugh. But he does. So much. And so hard. We’d taken LL to an aquarium in Grapevine and I caught MSH at his cRaZiEsT. LL and I giggle every time we come across this one on my phone.

My Sweet Hubby. Every. Single. Day. Of. His. Life. He started reading The Bible seven mornings a week four years ago. Hasn’t missed a day. Not one. When I wake up (which is usually later than him), this is the first thing I see. He makes me proud. He makes me smile. (And, quite frankly, he often makes me feel a bit bad—that I’m not as dedicated a Bible scholar as he’s become. He inspires me to be better.)

We disagree. We misunderstand each other—a lot. We have polar opposite opinions on MANY things. We get discouraged. We get confused. We get angry. Nothing we’ve ever gone through has made either one walk away or out (even if in a heated moment one or both of us insinuates we might). We laugh. We persevere. We do our best to communicate. (That can be a challenge.) We try again. And again. And again. We wake up each day ready to re-commit our loyalty and devotion to each other.

I LOVE MY SWEET HUBBY. With all of my heart and soul.

Thank you for humoring me this month! My wish for you is that you have someone in your life—a spouse, partner, family member, sibling, child, friend—someone that you cherish and trust as much as I cherish and trust This Man.

It’s Fri-Yay! Have a GREAT weekend, Friends Everywhere!

Smooch,

ELC

bytheway: It’s getting cooler here in Texas. This time of the year? What most Texans live for...YIPPEE!!!