ode to my sweet babboo

Sally: I wonder when my sweet babboo is going to ask me to the party?

Linus: I'm not your sweet babboo, and I wouldn't invite you to a garage sale!

Sally: Isn't he the cutest thing?  

every year, as february peaks at me from behind a corner, i get the urge to watch A Charlie Brown Valentine.  and because i have this urge, i have my students watch it every Valentine's Day... telling other teachers that my CLASS wanted to watch it.  but truthfully, i was sitting right there with them, loving every moment of it.

one of my favorite parts of the brilliance that is charlie brown, is the dynamics between sally and linus.

at first i thought i just liked them both because they were so funny... sally exhaling a loud sigh every time her linus speaks but one wise line.  sauntering over to him and batting her eyes while he awkwardly sits next to her with flushed, rosy cheeks.  but last year i came to realize it's because i was watching kjaer and i play out on television.

i'm crazy about my husband... did you know that?  when i try to tell him this, he is so sweet and humble about it that i wonder if he is secretly questioning my sanity.  but he is my linus... my sweet babboo.  just as sally found linus's thoughts, actions and blue blanket irresistible... i find my man to be the same.

so, in light of valentine's day, which is fast approaching, i'd like to try, just attempt, to educate the world on why my man still knocks my socks off.

1)  he makes me big breakfasts every weekend.  every saturday or sunday morning we wake up and he sleepily asks, "what should we have for breakfast today?"  and folks, the menu is to DIE for... peanut butter french toast, sweet milks, pancakes, chocolate chip pancakes... the list goes on.  we shuffle out of our bedroom and i set the table, make the coffee and feed the dog while he gets his master piece going.  the man has talent, people.  he has a certain way he heats up the griddle, cracks the eggs and flips the goods.  all the while, i sit across the table reading the current fiction novel we're working on to him (in between sally-ish sighs).  it's my favorite part of the week.

2)  he can fix anything... he's THAT good.  i have never met a man who can work on cars, gut and remodel his own home, hand-make his own frames for his photographs...  the list goes on.  every time i have some wild-haired idea ("maybe we need a dining room in our sunroom!!!  what if we hung our tv ABOVE the fireplace???  did you see that headboard on pintrest... could we (ahem... you) make one???") he makes the necessary trips to lowes and gets to work.  and did you know, he doesn't even have to ask sales associates for help at home improvement stores?  (insert sally sigh here)  he always knows what he needs whilst i follow him around batting my eyelashes up at him.

3)  he has a quiet sort of love.  in case you haven't already figured it out, his wife is quite demonstrative.  i love talking about love with him, telling him i love him, hugging him, kissing him, holding his hand, telling others about how much i love him.  basically, i probably drive the poor man crazy.  but his love for me is so quiet and gentle, and i know to my marrow he adores me.

4)  he does little things for no reason... sending me a song over email during the day that made him think of me, he even got me flowers for no reason last month.  one time... he vacuumed my car without me even asking.  i could've kissed him!  another time, he made us matching water cups for the bathroom on his potters wheel.  that's when i KNEW i had him.  the man would rather die than have matching anything! 

5)  he is sincere and expects others to be.  there's no faking it with this guy.  he appreciates sincere people and is nothing but sincere in return. this is very linus-esque.  remember the charlie brown halloween special?  linus just KNEW the great pumpkin would visit the sincerest pumpkin patch.  alas, this is my man... his pumpkin patch is sincere and you are invited into it if you are sincere too.

6)  he has seen me at my worst and still loves me at the end of the day.  ladies... you know what i'm talking about.  especially since my hormones are at an all time high with our little one in my belly, this man has seen more crying breakdowns and irrational behaviors than a celebrity therapist.  OK... i'm not THAT bad.  but he HAS witnessed some strange behavior.  one time i tried to be mad at him (yes... i TRIED but he makes it so hard and i'm so crazy about him it doesn't always work out).  i was crying irrationally over something.  then he got me laughing.  i'd start laughing and remember why i was mad and start sobbing again.  then i'd hear my pitiful cries and start laughing at how ridiculous i sounded.  the whole time kjaer just watched me, dying of laughter.  who couldn't?  i was dying of laughter too... when i wasn't wailing inbetween fits of giggles.  by the time my 20 minute crazy fest was over, (my brain was thinking he should be running for the door) ... he took me in his arms and said "one of my top... 5 .... favorite moments with you... EVER."  and he gave me a big ol' kiss.

swoon.

7)  he floors me.  i appreciate the things he thinks about, feel honored that he trusts me enough to share his secrets, ideas and thoughts with and i just plain love the way his brain works.  ever since high school people have teased me about falling for "mysterious" people.  well, the truth is... that even after 9 years of knowing kjaer, i still feel like he's my handsome little onion.  each layer i pull back adds to the wonderfulness that he is... good or bad.  he's smart, intriguing and good-looking.  what more could a gal ask for?

8) he makes me laugh (see #6 and #9).  he can make me laugh when i'm trying my darndest to be as grumpy as i can be.  and we laugh together ALL THE TIME.  from our spitting contests when we were first dating, to wrestling for the sweet spot on the couch, he always has me smiling. 

9)   he's quirky... in a good way of course.  there are so many little things that i love about him.  first of all... who would ever look at my man and think that his favorite tv shows are celebrity rehab and campus PD?  come on!!  i LOVE it!  when we watch campus PD he shouts out "extra fuzz!!" out of sheer excitement midway through... i crack up every time (unless they don't play extra fuzz... and then he sadly asks "where's the extra fuzz?")  his favorite movies are the fast and the furious movies... and not just the good ones (and yes, my love, i did just say that).  i think we were even in danger of naming our child "diesel" after good ol' vin diesel.  he drives to a rummage sale in nebraska every year, frequents local thrift stores looking for records to add to his collection, brews batches of beer or is constantly tinkering with other little projects around the house.  on weekends i see the wheels start turning around 8 AM and i know he's planning out his day full of projects.  one time, i woke up and found him in his pajamas and crocs trimming our grape vines in the backyard... apparently this needed to be done BEFORE the peanut butter french toast.  he's always busy and always working.  i love that when he gets that faraway look and i ask, "what are you thinking about?"  he'll answer with something like, "motorcycles" and it's the truth.  sometimes, over the past 7 years, when he gets that look... it'll turn out to be that he's dreaming up how to convert one of our jeeps into a biodiesel vehicle so that he can run it on french fry oil.  while i know he wants to save the environment, i can't help but wonder if he just wants the air around him to smell like french fries.  and to that i say, "good call my love, good call."

10) he's honest.  don't need to explain much here.   honesty goes a long way with most people.  he's also patient... cool as a cucumber.  and the more impatient i am, the more patient he gets.  when i get over the annoying fact that he's more saintly than i in this area, i actually appreciate it. 

the list could go on and on. 

i could spend all day writing about this man or talking about him.  but i think, for times sake, i'll share one last thought...

last valentine's day i gave kjaer a card in an envelope that was addressed "to: my sweet babboo."  words can't describe the comical look that came across his face... it was very linus-y. but i stuck to my guns because it was the truth.  i think sometimes my shameless love can be a little frightening.  but the reality of it all is that i'm so blessed to have found my partner in this man.  marriage should be a place where both of you are better people together than you would be apart... and i believe that's true for both of us.  while kjaer and i are wonderful people apart, together i feel like we're unstoppable.  the best part of it all, the absolute clincher, is that i'm as crazy about him as i was over 7 years ago when we first started dating.  sure, our love has transformed and changed over the years, but the man can still make my heart go pitter-pat with one statement he utters.

and that, my dear husband, means that i'll forever be your sally... and you will always be my sweet babboo.