Sweet Sixteen

Last year around this time, I posted two entries marking today's occasion:  my wedding anniversary.  Feel free to check them out if you want to learn a few things about Geoff and me.

Happy Anniversary (part 1)
Happy Anniversary (part 2)

I thought what I'd do today to mark our sixteenth anniversary was note a few things that I particularly love about my husband:

• He loves God, and wants to live a life that is pleasing to Him.
• He loves me...and let me tell you, that's asking a lot some days!
• He sticks with me, even when I have no doubt I am being difficult to live with.
• He is very hard-working (granted, to the work-aholic level, but still...). 
• The moments I love best about Geoff are when I see him fully engaged with Matthew.  There's something about the two of them together that does something to my heart. I can hardly wait to see his love develop for our soon-to-be-children.
• Geoff is very tender-hearted and generous towards people in need.
• He's a good listener when I'm troubled about something...and not too quick to offer solutions or advice.
• Though we're in pretty traditional roles since Matthew was born (Geoff working; me mostly at home with Matt), most of our marriage has seen him fully supporting my career - in fact, he's still very supportive of it; it's just that I'm not working much!  He loved the days when I was making more money than him - no male chauvinism there!
• He's made substantial efforts to change things about himself over the years, as he learned that they caused problems in our relationship.
• When times were rough between us, a number of years back, Geoff remained completely committed to our marriage and to working things out. I sometimes wonder what might have happened to us if Geoff hadn't stayed so focused as we worked our way back to health. I'm forever grateful to him for that.
• Though Geoff often struggles with work/life balance issues, I see him trying very hard to minimize the impact of his working hours on his family life, often by getting up very early to get his work done, and so on.  I notice that kind of stuff and it means much to me.
• Often, it's really just the little kindnesses that Geoff demonstrates to me that make me love and appreciate him all the more:  when he cleans up the kitchen while I lie down with Matthew at bedtime, even though he's tired, and has other work to do yet; when he cheerfully supports my getting out with friends; when he and Matthew occasionally make me breakfast on a Saturday morning...sometimes in bed; when he phones in the middle of the day just to see how my day is going; his enthusiasm about an occasional cereal or pancake dinner when I haven't got anything else in mind; and so on and so on.  I am a woman for whom the 'little things' mean the most, and these kinds of things and many others mean a lot to me!

I'm glad that, sixteen years ago, we took a chance and made a life's commitment to each other.  I think it says a lot about us that we still love seeing each other at the end of each day, love to spend time together, and want to spend the next sixteen years together, too!  This coming year brings a whole new set of challenges for us, as we will hopefully add two more children to our family...and I'm excited about our future!

(Happy Anniversary, Geoff.  I love you!)