As I celebrate my husband’s birthday today I can think of nothing better than to give him the thanks and credit he so clearly deserves. Our love is the core that holds this family together. He is my balance of logic vs. emotion.
I dedicate this site to my dear husband as I officially launch my site tonight. (One year to date from creating it.) Thank you for supporting me on our journey and for the assurance that you will be there on whatever might lie ahead. It is also dedicated to our beautiful children Adalyn & Andrew. You inspire me and are the joy of my life. I am so glad that I get to be your momma.
I met my husband in 2005. It was my first job out of college and I worked at a Staffing company in Cleveland, Ohio. He worked in a different division and had recently been recruited from Washington D.C. to run the sister division to mine. He was originally from Northeastern Ohio and was looking to move home to be closer to family. We sat next to each other in the bullpen. I was so eager and ambitious and worked late nights trying to fill job orders with my partners. He was there next to me and would offer to stay late sometimes just so I didn’t have to walk out alone. He was just a kind person and well liked. We connected because I had interned in Washington D.C. on Capital Hill and shared a passion for the city. We also shared a passion for funny movies and somehow started sharing lines from Tommy Boy. He would look at me and say, “You look like a Helen,” and he would just make me laugh.
I didn’t know I had feelings for him until one of our divisions hit 2,000 hours and the office went out to celebrate their success. We piled in a cab from one bar to another and somehow his leg brushed up against my leg and I instantly felt butterflies in my stomach. I will never forget that moment and what that flutter felt like. It was that feeling that told me I was in love but I didn’t know what to do with it.
We went out for drinks one night and decided that it would not be appropriate for us to date since he was in a management position. I was 22 and he was 36. I remember him walking me to my car that night and while I agreed it was a bad idea for us to date I desperately wanted him to say he didn’t care. But, he was too good of a man to do that. I also knew our age difference really scared him.
We never went out again or spoke of anything for 6 months. His division was moved to the other side of the room and he would occasionally smile at me as we passed or our eyes met in the office. For 6 months I remember telling my family I was going to marry the 36-year-old bald guy from work. My mother and older sisters were pretty freaked out by this, picturing a George Costanza type that I hoped to marry. My mother showed up to my work one time to catch a glimpse. She agreed he was handsome.
Those 6 months were tough for me. My best friend introduced me to someone else to try to get my mind off him. We dated for a brief time until my husband showed up at a bar we were at one night and pulled me aside. He asked me what I was doing with him. I was so caught off guard, confused and flattered and broke things off with the other guy immediately. My husband and I started dating right away and I never looked back.
This man showed me a different kind of love that I never knew existed. It was easy love. It was the “didn’t have to question it” love. There were no games. No questioning how he felt about me. No, worrying if we saw each other too much or how many days until we could call each other. We were just together and it was just easy to be with him. He taught me that love was more than words it was how a person truly treats you.
He had a Golden Retriever, Maggie and I fell just as hard for her as I did for him. He also had an incredible family and I was the luckiest girl in the world to have found him.
When we moved in together, he started a business. It was a Home Care Company to help keep seniors independent in their own homes. I watched as he poured his heart, soul and every ounce of himself into his business to make it grow. He put the best of himself into it. I watched him grow something from inside our very small apartment into something remarkable. He did what he had to do to grow. I remember the two of us going to clean a lady’s house, even when it wasn’t necessarily the work he wanted to be doing but he didn’t want to turn down the business.
I saw firsthand the hard truths of what it means to run a small business on your own. I saw the stress on his face, the struggles he endured and the way he fought through it. I watched him grow from tough experiences. I will never forget the night in the early days that someone called off and my husband had to take a shift and take care of a client. My husband had to care for a client in a way I don’t think he ever expected that night. It humbled him and turned him into a different man that evening and I will never forget his face as he entered our apartment that night.
We married in 2009 and had 2 beautiful children. The two of us built an incredible life together and our home is filled with unconditional love, joy and a lot of laughter. I dedicate this site to him because he truly was my rock these last few years. Everything he has done to start, grow and finally sell the business was all for his family. With all that we dealt with at home my husband held it together and helped me survive. Watching him has taught me about the strength to endure. He has taught me time and time again the only person that can make you happy is yourself. I love this man. I know our love will always last because even when I love him in all his glory I still think he is the most incredible man in his darkest hour. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think we would have endured what we did. Never did I think we would have had fights over Miralax or Maggots we found in our trashcans but we survived it. I thank you for carrying the financial weight when I didn’t go back to work and supporting me when I needed to be home taking care of our children. I thank you for truly understanding that I couldn’t leave Andrew. I thank you for holding it together when I knew you were hanging on by a thread at times. I thank you for being there for all of my momma meltdowns at the end of the day, listening to my endless “what ifs” and loving me through it all. From the bottom of my heart I am so grateful for the man that you are, the husband I have and for the incredible father you are to our children.
Happy Birthday Husband. I love you with all of my heart!