Tomorrow is my Hubs' birthday, and I could write a marathon-length post telling you all the hundreds of reasons I love him. Instead, I'll tell you a story that illustrates the kind of man he is.
A couple of months ago, Hubs bought a new car. You should know that we never buy new cars, because we're generally pretty stingy frugal. But because the car Hubs had chosen is an especially reliable model, and he knew he'd likely drive it for a long time, he went ahead and bought a brand new model. He explained carefully to the boys how important it is that we take very good care of this car (not every family member has the best track record with vehicles).
Fast forward a few weeks later. After an especially draining week, Hubs was on his way home in his car and filled up at a gas station. Distracted, he pulled away and rammed right into one of those yellow guard rails at the pump. The front right quarter-panel of his car was literally peeled OFF. (You know it's bad when you can see the wiper fluid from outside the car). To make things worse, because of a recent large car insurance claim, he instantly knew that we'd have to pay for this out-of-pocket--making another claim so quickly would surely cause our insurance premiums to sky rocket.
He called me to break the news. Though I marveled at his initial calmness, I shuddered to imagine how totally frustrated he must be. When it sunk in, would he blow his top?
When he arrived home and the boys saw the damage they were enthralled with such impressive destruction. But they knew the car was important to Dad, and our seven year old told Hubs how sorry he was this had happened. And my weary and frustrated Hubs knelt down to Stephen's level and said, "Son, it's just a car. People are much more important than things."
The story doesn't end there. A few days later, our next-door neighbor reported to me a conversation she'd had with Stephen the following day. Stephen had dramatically recounted to her the extensive damage to his Dad's car. Our neighbor responded, "Wow, your Dad must've been really upset about that!" "No," Stephen responded. "He told me that people are more important than things."
He remembered. It's hard to think of many more powerful examples for a child to see.
My Hubs isn't perfect, as he would be the first to tell you. But in countless instances such as these, he lives out for our family a model of integrity that is beyond priceless. He daily demonstrates for his children (and for me) hard work, contentment, reason, self-discipline, kindness, honesty and--most of all--an unwavering commitment to Christ.
Happy birthday, Hubs. I'm so happy you were born, and that you belong to us.
