Leigh

(Originally posted on Mother’s Day 2006) — I love you because you are my wife, the mother of my children and my best friend.  I love you because you stayed with me when I was poor, grumpy, obsessive, compulsive and (sometimes) downright unbearable – even long after we were no longer poor.  I love you because you were always there for me.  I like you because you always make faces (the “duck” is our favorite) and you sit down and read while you’re eating lunch (with a bowl balanced on your chest) and you homeschool our kids.  I like that you still get excited about candy, Hot Fries and Mentos, you kick me hard in bed, you can’t ever wake up, you always get food on your shirt, you get upset when you lose a video game, your favorite TV show is Cosby (and it hasn’t been on regular television for fifteen years) and you always expect the best in people.  I like that you can’t make a decision if your life depends on it, you can never find anything you’re looking for and that you dip Saltine Crackers in your coffee.  I like that you are so kind to everyone and you sometimes cry while watching the morning news.  I like that you run around cleaning up the house before I get home from a trip (and tell the kids not to tell me about it) and that you can copy any meal we eat in the best restaurants at home better than the restaurants did it to begin with.  I like how you smell and that I find your long, fallen-out hairs all over the house, my clothes, my car and everything else you come into contact with.  I like that you have never returned a library book on time and that you once had your library card revoked.  I like everything that makes you “you.”