Happiest of Birthdays to our MVP

Depending on when you read this, it *might* be Nat's birthday.  I know that the only way she consumes my nonsense here on the blog is via the email broadcasts that go out in the mornings, so I'm posting this on June 11th knowing that she'll end up reading it on June 12th.

Or, more likely, she herself, *might* read this.  And her not reading my pithy blog posts isn't a slight.  It is due to the fact that she barely gets a moment to herself and is always in a constant state of movement.

I likely don't need to tell you all this, but, because of all that she does for us, as the title of this post states, she's our family MVP.

Without her, we wouldn't be here and mostly dressed in clean clothes.  Despite her hating my socks with mandals look and protesting at every turn, she keeps us all on track and the kids looking good and in good health.  If I'm not wearing a tshirt and dirty shorts (with my socks and mandals), that's because Nat had the good sense to tell me to put 'something else on'.

She's more than a partner to me.  She's everything.  No matter how hard I try, I could never imagine how I fell into a situation like the one I'm in:  with Natalie leading the way for me and our family. The day we met in Plainfield, Illinois changed my life in the most incredible way.  

As the great Darryl Hall once said:  You make my dreams come true.

The impact Natalie has on us, of course goes far beyond keeping us in order as a family.  She's a strong, intelligent, independent woman who is teaching my three little ones all that is right and wrong in the world.  She's raising smart, caring, empathetic kids.  She introduces them to new things and ensures they're not afraid of things that are different from them/their surroundings.  If it was up to me, they'd have a much smaller world view.  That's a credit to Natalie and the emotional intelligence she brings to our marriage.

While our kids take up a large chunk of Nat's time, she also found more hours in the day over the past few years to single-handedly manage the project of building our new house.  Every detail, all Natalie.  Every design choice.  All Natalie.  I couldn't be more happy with how it all turned out and couldn't be more proud of the product that was delivered by Natalie and our building team.  If she wanted, she could have a career out of it.  And I'm not the only one who thinks that!  I also learned that white is a color choice. NOT, as I learned, a lack of choice.

More importantly, Natalie is sooo aware of the world and is genuinely one of the most GOOD people in the world.  She just flat out cares.  Cares about us, sure.  But she also cares about the community (at all levels.  From our neighborhood to our town to the world at large) and shares her opinions to try to make the world a better place.   She gets involved in movements that matter and serves as a strong role model for my two girls on what a woman can do in the world.

I often think about my three kids and what they're going to be like when they grow up and take on the world.  Will they be ready?  Will they find joy and happiness?

With Nat at the helm, I have no doubts.  They're going to turn out to be great citizens of the world.  And that's largely due to her and the influence she has on their world view.

So, happiest of birthdays, Pud.  Hopefully today, you'll get just a little bit of a respite from the constant onslaught of responsibilities that we all throw at you.  And maybe more than the usual 4 hours of sleep.  Thanks for being our MVP.  I know we never do enough to help you, but we'll keep trying.  Can't wait to celebrate with you and the kids and (maybe?) tacos?