My Perfect Ten

     We would all agree there is no such thing as the perfect ten in a person. Reality is, we are all flawed to the nth degree. However, in terms of our spouses and our children, we all (mostly) feel that we have the very best for ourselves. Sometimes, it's all those flaws that endear us to one another and makes that special someone our very own. And when we love one another despite the flaws, we grow a strong marriage and a strong family. That said, I have the perfect ten in a husband...for me : )
     In honor of Steve's birthday today and the anniversary of our meeting thirty seven years ago, I would like to highlight for posterity this perfectly flawed person who is the perfect complement for a perfectly flawed me.
     Today was a rare day in the fact that Steve and I spent the entire day doing everything together. Usually in our free time we co-exist around the house, each happily doing our own thing and only sharing a small portion of the day in an activity together. For example, he reads while I cook or he's in the basement while I'm upstairs, that sort of thing. However, today we went to the dump together, we attempted to get him a haircut together, we ran errands together, we planted a tree together, we went out to dinner together, and we played shuffleboard together. We even called it a day at the same time, which is extremely rare. Man! All of this togetherness sure made our imperfections more visible. Let me rephrase that; it made all of my imperfections shine forth. Once I let go of all that, which was within the first hour, our day was perfectly perfect.
     In  all our years together, it is clear that life has given Steve and I many a storm to weather. We are beginning to look weathered. The impulsiveness of our youth is gone, our castles in the sky have come down to earth, and the light on our days feels more golden than crystal clear. We understand each others imperfections better and that makes them easier to overlook. Perhaps we're just weary. We have definitely learned the value of time and that it should not be wasted on petty things.
     So, Steve's hair is uncut because he has no time to leave work for a haircut; he is perfectly hard working. His communication skills are different than mine because that's how perfectly genius people like him communicate. And the saxophone that reverberates throughout house and fields beyond is his perfect relaxation after he's been pulled in a million directions at work all day. How empty my world would be without this noise. But what really sums up his perfection in my eyes is his smile at the end of this little video- it's really perfect.