The dreaded day

Readers of this blog have probably caught on to the fact that I’m my wife’s biggest fan.  I like her a lot.  She is one outstanding example of womanlyness.  I like her so much that I just made up a word to describe her.  Yep, I like her that much. So in honor her birthday tomorrow I’m going to write a special birthday post for my lovely wife, whom I love. I’m going to list one thing I like about Jen for every year old (read: young) she is. And away we go…

1. She’s hott. It may be stereotypical to say, but it’s true. She’s like a bhut jolokia on the surface of the sun sort of hott.
2. She’s a Marine. While this may not appeal to much of the population, it appeals to me. Marines can do things that no other population can do, and Jen is no exception. Back when we had 3 kids I used to tell people that she could change a diaper, cook a meal, and field strip a rifle all at the same time, with one hand tied behind her back. Now that we have six kids I think her Marine status has made her even more amazing.
3. She’s an outstanding mother. Anyone who knows Jen can see that. But I think when someone is good at something as important as mothering, it should be brought up often. So I’m stating once again that Jen is an amazing mother to our kids and I can’t imagine that anyone is better suited for the role of handling kids with my genes.
4. Her parents are awesome. This may not be anything she had a hand in, but it’s still worth mentioning. I think she’s evidence of what great parenting can produce. Big Daddy and Claudia-Marie Moore raised a great daughter, and then turned right back around and offered to help Jen raise our kids while I’m deployed. They didn’t have to move to Hawaii after Big Daddy’s retirement, but they chose to be an active part of their grandchildren’s lives and remain close-by in case they’re needed. They set a good example to Jen and our kids everyday.
5. She doesn’t know how amazing she is. Anytime someone tells Jen how amazing it is that she’s raising six great kids, how well she handles it, or anything like that, she tells them she’s just doing her job. She doesn’t see anything special about what she does everyday. In truth, what she does everyday is far more than a lot of people do and that makes her amazing by my standards.
6. She’s not a typical officer’s wife. There’s an unspoken rule in the military that says officers socialize with officers, and enlisted socialize with enlisted. The same goes for their families. Well since Jen is an officer’s wife who is also enlisted, she feels that she has the right to break those rules. At least once a month she hosts informal parties for the families of the people serving with me in Iraq. Mostly the people serving under me, who happen to be enlisted. But that doesn’t matter to her. Anyone who has a husband or wife willing to go to combat with me is welcome in our house and backyard.
7. She knows exactly how to get me to come to her side. Even if I don’t know that I want to be on her side, she knows I do. She’s very good at persuading me to look at things from her point of view, even if I don’t agree with it.
8. She always respects my decisions. We are a Christian family, and as such we believe that the husband is the head of the household, and should be the one who leads that household. That doesn’t mean that I’m a dictator. I value Jen’s opinion and input on every decision that will have an impact on our family. She’s my equal in almost every way and I try to treat like my equal. That means that we discuss almost everything that happens in our lives. From the really big things, down the to small things. But in the end she knows that it’s my duty to make the final decision about everything.
9. She can cook. Seriously. That woman can do wonderful things with the most simple ingredients. I think Reed and I both knew we were lacking in the nutritional balance department before Jen came along. Even before we were married she would come to my apartment almost everyday and make sure we had good food to eat for every meal. I was happy to have good healthy food, and Reed was happy to not have to eat burned food all the time.
10. She takes care of me. As I stated above, when Jen and I were dating she used to come over and fix us food. If she knew she wasn’t going to be there the next day, she would make an extra meal for me to heat up so Reed and I would eat well. I knew from the moment I saw her that she was the one for me, but when she cooked for me the first time it made me sure that I had made the right choice. Even now when I come home from work everyday, or am home on leave while deployed, she never expects me to do anything for her.
11. She lets me take care of her. Even though she doesn’t expect anything to be done for her, she still humors me and lets me do things for her. I’m not content to just sit around and watch her clean or cook a meal. I feel the need to be doing something all the time, even if I’m not doing things the way she would normally do them. She never complains or tells me I’m doing it wrong. She just gives me a kiss on the cheek and tells me I’m sweet for helping her out.
12. She plays Xbox with me. Even though she doesn’t like playing Halo with me, she’s always willing to play co-op so we can kick the tar out of some grunts. Honestly, I think she just likes sitting next to me on the loveseat.
13. She made Reed a happy kid. When we got married, then adopted Brookes very shortly after, Reed didn’t react well. She was used to having one or both of us around all the time to be her own personal audience. All that changed when Brookes came home with us. But after some days of Reed not acting correctly, Jen took her aside and explained to that 18 month old that throwing toys at the baby wasn’t a good thing to do, and it needed to stop. So it stopped, and Reed was a happy kid again.
14. She proposed to me when she found out about Brookes. Don’t worry, I proposed properly later on. But it was Jen who first suggested that we get married so that we could adopt Brookes and not have him go into foster care. She didn’t even know my friend who was having the baby and yet she insisted that if it was important to me, it was important to her.
15. She surprised me with a daughter. Okay, so God did the surprising, but Jen carried the kid for 9 months. All throughout Jen’s pregnancy, we thought she was having a boy. We were all set to have a 2nd son. And then out popped my little ray of sunshine, Madeline. Jen would not let the hospital take pictures in the MARPAT onesie we had brought, so I had to go find a 24-hour Wal-Mart at 0430 to buy a little dress for Madeline’s pictures. They both had me wrapped around their little fingers.
16. She convinced me we needed “one more baby”. And therefore, Beau was born. Somehow that boy got about 95% of Jen’s genes, 1% of mine, and 4% of genes from some unknown origin. He’s exactly like Jen, right now to his long brown hair, and cute little pout. I’m happy she decided we needed to have another baby.
17. She pulled a fast one on me and we got two. The twins were not my idea. I thought if we had more kids it would be well into the future and after we were settled somewhere besides Hawaii. But God, and Jen, had other plans and not long after we got to Hawaii she told me she was pregnant. Eventually we found out there were two tadpoles in the tank, and a few months after I left on this deployment I got a phonecall saying she was in premature labor and the boys were coming. Five weeks ahead of schedule came Reagan and Maddox. I was almost sure that the stress of 4 kids under 6, plus newborn twins in the hospital would be too much for even my amazing Marine. But she proved me wrong and handled the stress with an amazing amount of grace.
18. She bucked up and started driving an SUV. When we had 4 kids we all fit in a mini-van very well. Four carseats/booster seats and two adults fit into a Chrysler Town and Country like a dream. Life was good. Then the twins made their appearance and Jen knew it was time for either a huge SUV or a 15 passenger van. Being the cool mother she is, she refused to drive a 15 passenger van and decided that a Ford Expedition was in her future. The thing is, Jen hates large SUV’s. She thinks they’re just too big and unnecessary. I guess she figured out one was necessary…
19. She has an accent. Being from Texas myself I’m no stranger to accents of the southern persuasion. Accents are awesome. But Jen’s Georgia accent is beyond awesome. It’s downright amazing. She reminds me of some of the people in Gone With The Wind who had very strong and very deliberate Georgia accents. Most of theirs were fake, but hers is 100% real and 100% hott.
20. She doesn’t yell. Except maybe when she’s on duty and needs to set some young Marines straight. But at home she never yells. Not at me, the kids, the pets, no one. She never raises her voice even when she’s mad (which, to be fair, is usually at me). She’s very calm and talks things out. She also never yells in the house when she’s trying to find a kid. Our house is a big one, because it has to be in order to contain six kids. Most mothers would walk to the bottom or top of the stairs and yell the kids names to find them. She never does that. She goes around the house and finds the kid/s she’s looking for, even though it’s tedious and arguably a waste of time to check every room where they might be. She’s just awesome like that.
21. She doesn’t make our bedroom too girly. This may seem minor to a lot of guys, but I’m a Marine dadgummit, and I don’t really want flowers all over my bedroom. Jen took this into consideration and chose bedding and all forms of decorations that are not overly girly, but still reflect her sense of style. I wouldn’t want her to have to live in a really butch room, especially since I’m not always there to enjoy it, but I think it’s great that she searched high and low to find things that would suit us both.
22. She makes me happy. It’s that simple. She just makes me happy to be alive and married to her every day of my life. There’s never been a day when I’ve regretted any part of my life with her, because 99% of the time it’s all smooth sailing.
23. She always looks happy when I come home. I know everyday life with six kids isn’t always a bundle of fun. It’s tiring and stressful even on the best days. But Jen never looks stressed out when I come home, either from work, on leave, or an entire deployment. She’s always thrilled that I’m back home, even though sometimes having me at home is like adding an extra child to the mix. I love that no matter how mad I’ve made her recently, she always gives me a kiss and tells me she loves me before I leave the house and when I get home.
24. She keeps our entire house in order at all time. Jen is always ready for anyone in the world to drop by the house for a visit. Somehow she keeps the house clean, the kids looking presentable, and food ready for eating at all times. That’s hard to do, but she can do it.
25. She loves me. I know for a fact that I’m not an easy person to love. I leave my socks on the bedroom floor, I get the kids riled up right before bedtime, I have to leave to go train on a moment’s notice, and I can never remember to wash out the sink after I shave each morning. But she loves me anyway, despite having very few redeeming qualities. She could have had any number of guys in the world, but she chose me instead. I consider myself to be the blessed one because, let’s face it, I’m not exactly a dream guy given all the reasons I listed above. I’m just happy any woman wanted me, and I’m really freaking happy that the woman who wanted me was Jen.
26. She’s beautiful. I know my first point was that she’s hott. And she is. But beyond being hott there’s this level of beauty that few woman can reach. Jen is one of those women (the second one is Catherine Bell, but that’s an entirely different matter). Jen is the kind of beautiful that makes me wish I could stay at home all day every day just so I can be around her. She’s the kind of beautiful that makes people turn their heads and look when she walks around in public. She’s the kind of beautiful that makes me wonder if her vision is really 20/20 because she’s married to me and not some better looking guy. She’s the kind of beautiful that women aspire to be, but few ever reach. I don’t just mean her outside appearance (she’s hott). I mean she’s beautiful for all the reasons I’ve listed. And those are just a few of them. There are a lot more reasons that she’s beautiful that I could have named, but I chose 26 of them so there’s one for every year of her awesome life.

There are a lot of reasons why I love my wife so much. There were 26 of them. You may not hear from me again once I get home on leave because Jen may kill me for posting yet again about her, but I’m willing to take that chance. It’s her birthday and she deserves a little praise on this day. So happy 26th birthday to Jennifer Grace Moore-Harvey, the best thing to ever happen to me and the love of my life.

Advertisement