the first eight...

Forty years with My Sweet Hubby (aka MSH). (Actually over 41—when you count going out on our first date!) It's been (sort of...) CELEBRATED. We’ve both probably learned, in that amount of time, more than we ever wanted to know about each other.

I'm his second wife. He married his first wife when he was 19. They were divorced thirteen years and four sons later. Of course I knew—when we met (and I've shared the details of that little story at least once)—that he had four children from 2-12 and an aluminum fishing boat. I remained intrigued. (Instead of running away as fast as my short little legs would take me. Winky. Wink.)

So when we started off? We were basically—in the financial sense—like newlyweds.

I can tell you that we say at least once a week—sometimes every day—we’re still learning things about each other we didn’t know! (Or, perhaps, at 64 and 74—it’s not that we're learning all that much...we simply don’t remember…sigh…)

Here are My First Eight (of 40!) Things I Love, Love, LOVE About MSH:

1.     His eyes. They are so brown they’re almost black. I sincerely remember the first time I was up close enough to see them just inches from my own (which are kind of blah gray-ish/green-ish/blue-ish/hazel-ish and not striking), I was hooked. Drawn into the power those eyes had on me virtually immediately! (I’ve shared in the past that MSH seriously reminded me of Sean Connery. I adored Sean for many, MANY years…until there were some unfortunate revelations about him…darnitall…)

2.     His smile. Warm. Kind. Fiesty-ish. A smile showing off nice teeth. (Despite the fact that neither of us wore braces—due to the expense of them. And despite the fact that he smoked cigarettes. ) BTW: TLC wore a retainer/expander when she was 5. Then was put into braces when she was 9. WAY TOO YOUNG. (IMHO.) I was finishing up with chemo treatments for my breast cancer nightmare when her braces were removed. They didn’t give her a retainer. I’m still mad about that. Mad at them. Mad at myself. Because she didn’t wear a retainer, she had to be put into braces again at 15. For 2 years. I didn’t go to the same orthodontist. I tell her periodically—after she quit wearing her retainer 10ish years ago—that she owes MSH and me $17,000. That’s probably low-balling the actual cost of those three orthodontic procedures. Because that’s not factoring in my time, gasoline, wear-and-tear on my vehicles du jour and SHOPPING and eating out we’d have to do on those appointment days. Sheesh.

3.     The fact that, when I met him, he was 33 and hadn’t had hair on the top o’ his handsome head for many years. Nine. Ish. (I think I figured out why I like men with bald heads: My biological grandfather was bald. He was our only grandfather—as our materal grandfather had died when our mother was 5—and he was FUN. We lost touch with him when our parents divorced. I was 5 when that happened. He and our grandmother followed our father to another State and we saw our grandparents very, very seldom. I have sweet memories of him, however, as a small child. MSH has A LOT of Dad-Dad’s good qualities. A lot and MANY, MANY more.

4.     Because he was ten years older than me, MSH was “worldly.” Confident. Strong. I admired those qualities and, frankly, I needed a man in my life that could and would help me out. With my seemingly many problems/issues/challenges. (Not the least of which, four months into our dating relationship, was buying a battery for my UGLY little car I’d bought after graduating from college. The battery I needed was $40. I didn’t have the cash. He never hesitated for one-millionth of a second to bail me out. He rescued me that day and he’s rescued me a zillion times since.

5.     His interest in so many, many things! Hunting. (Although he quit hunting when we moved out to the country 18 years ago and we became excited to see deer and dove—the things he’d hunted for years. Every day. I was proud he’d decided he’d rather target practice than kill animals. Do either of us care if others hunt? Not the least. AS LONG AS they’re hunting by the laws and rules and not killing beautiful, wild animals they only want for the thrill and bragging and taxidermy.) Fishing. Boating. Skiing. (Water sports were his favourites, although he was an excellent snow skier. He doesn’t do either any more. Aging makes you grateful you don’t have broken bones. You want to keep it that way as long as possible!)

6.     His willingness to help do whatever I want around our home. Mostly vacuuming and cooking. The two things I dislike the most! He hasn’t ever cleaned a commode. That doesn’t bother me. He could. And he’d do it probably perfectly. I don’t mow or weedeat our lawn. I feel it’s a fair trade. Oh, and he doesn’t dust. That’s okay, too. He would.

7.     He knows enough about these things to save us time and money: Cars. Electricity. Plumbing. He does NOT, however, like to paint. That job he insists on leaving to the professionals. It's okay by moi.

8.     He is FUNNY. Mostly he doesn’t really mean to be. He and TLC make me laugh harder and longer than anyone else on this Earth.

There are more to come! I know Y’all will be waiting with baited breath…teeheehee…

HAPPY FRI-YAY!

Love and Hugs and please STAY SAFE this weekend!

ELC