Partner

I am going to do something I never do, and before you get too sarcastic and say "Write a post?!" I am doing that as well. But I am going to write about something that I usually try to not do, which is, of course, be all emotional and lovey-dovey cutesy.

It's not really my thing. I am not usually very sentimental. Especially outwardly to others.

Today I am going to talk about my spouse.
He deserves his own post.
Actually, I could start a whole blog about him, though I might be the only avid reader. No, I think there is a solid Zach following that would tune in. I won't do that, however, so no need to get too excited.

But I will tell you this:

Once upon a time, I married a boy. A boy because we were basically both babies. I was 19 and he was 20 when we got married. We have spent most of our young lives figuring out life together. While all of our peers that married at the same time as we did were getting divorced, we just kept our heads down and figured it out. Was it always fun and easy? No. It's life. But Zach has a very simple outlook on life, and he is the most grace-oriented person I have ever met.

So basically my opposite in most ways.

Fast forward 3 years, and we have Bishop, and then 2 1/2 years later, we have Cadence. In those first 5 years, we lost 4 babies, one at 20 weeks, the others before 12 weeks. Now, I'm not saying you can't survive this, as we did, but there were a lot of years that it was not always certain.

The next 5 years were spent cleaning up the fallout, and then figuring out what life looks like for our family of 4.

And before you are all thinking the first 10 years of our marriage were terrible, they weren't. They were hard, there was lots of devastation, but there was also joy. And in everything in our life, we have done it together. We have finished degrees, we have two amazing children who complete our family in ways we could never have imagined, and we are strong as a unit.

My husband is the rock in our family. I think the best word to describe him is steadfast. He is consistent in everything.

He is also hilarious. He is really quiet, so unless you know him, you have no idea that he has the driest sarcasm that you just missed. And that is his genius. I am loudly sarcastic and funny, he is so quiet about it that when you do realize his humor, it's the best thing ever.

If I thought I loved him when we got married, that was a shadow of what I feel for him now, almost 12 years later. He is better than I could have imagined as a dad. He creates these magical moments for our kids that I am constantly shocked at. Which was the catalyst of this post.

This morning, we got up, the kiddos had breakfast, and he started working outside (we are still moving and getting things settled). Well, I sent the kiddos upstairs to get dressed, and when they come down, they were looking for him. He told them last weekend that they could play micro-machines this weekend if they kept their rooms clean. They have been looking forward to it all week. Bishop stayed up late perfecting his room last night.

So they come downstairs, and Zach had gone back outside. Out of no where, something starts ringing, like a phone, but it isn't my cell phone. We start searching for the ringing, to find in the kitchen (each of us have our own drawers to keep things important in) in their drawers, they each have a walkie-talkie that's on and ringing. Bishop, of course, immediately knows what it is, and grabs it, and Zach (who must be watching from somewhere), says "Commander Bishop, are you there?"

This is literally like a dream come true for my son. You can see it on his face. He grabs the walkie-talkie, and runs over to the door, and in his haste, puts his shoes on the wrong feet. Meanwhile, it is finally occurring to Cadence what is happening, so she runs and grabs her boots. Bishop is already out the door and running, radioing in, asking where he needs to go.

Zach comes in another door, and gets out his trunk of micro-machines. The kiddos eventually come in when radioed, and have been happily playing for about an hour with their dad.

If I never loved him before, watching him parent would make me love him better than I could have ever planned.

I don't think words could ever describe how proud I am of him as a person. From the boy that no one really understood, to the high-achieving man he is now, the father, and to me, the best partner I wasn't smart enough to even ask for.

We are quickly closing in on 12 years married. He is my husband, but more than that, he is my absolute best friend and life partner.