Happy Birthday Aaron!

Yesterday was Aaron's birthday. It was a lot of fun. He took the day off, only checking his blackberry a few dozen times instead of the regular hundred. Aaron's a smart guy. He's taken the tactic of working a job that regularly keeps him away more than 12 hours each day causing his mere presence to be a treat. Getting the whole day together felt really luxurious. Aaron assured me he was having a good time but I think I enjoyed myself just as much. We hung out and mainly just worked on the apartment. In the afternoon we enjoyed a walk through Dike's Marsh where we spotted Ospreys, a humming bird, some double breasted cormorants, a water snake, some egrets and herons and a lot of other really beautiful plants and animals. I didn't touch a computer the whole day which felt amazing! It was wonderful to have so much quality time together.

Now that I'm back online I thought I'd post a belated birthday list of reasons I love Aaron. Mainly because I really love him but also because his sister Michelle sent him one yesterday and I figure it's bad news to get beat out by your husband's sister who lives half way across the country in shows of appreciation. So here are 29 reasons I love Aaron:

1. He's nice.

2. He's smart.

3. He's sweet.

4. He's curious and loves to learn about anything.

5. He's spontaneous and willing to try almost anything.

6. He's loyal.

7. He loves books.

8. He will listen to my 30 minute monologs on War and Peace or whatever else I happen to have just read or learned.

9. He loves being outdoors.

10. He'll do yoga with me even though it is in his words "fruity"

11. He'll even do my prenatal yoga DVD with me even though he's not pregnant and the background music is really weird.

12. He'll do lots of other things with me that I really love but only if I swear that I will NEVER EVER tell anyone because it would ruin his uber-manly republican reputation.

13. He appreciates good food and can make a lot of it himself. (Best crepe maker EVER)

14. He's supportive and encouraging.

15. He works incredibly hard.

16. He knows how to split wood.

17. He always has a sense of purpose.

18. He always leaves me the last bite of any treat even if I choose to leave that last bite for two weeks and it's tormenting him.

19. He's informed and fun to talk to about current events.

20. He's nice to family, both his and mine. And he's nice to Battle even though he maintains that Battle is not and never will be family.

21. He will watch my favorite TV shows with me even when I can tell he would really love to change the channel.

22. He takes out and sorts the recycling even when he thinks it's a lot of extra work.

23. He's always planning amazing trips to go on together: "And after we visit the forum, we'll walk over to this gelato place and then we'll go to the Museum because I know you'd really love seeing such and such etc. etc"

24. He'll take walks with me even though he doesn't like walks.

25. He's competitive and always gives a good fight whatever game we play.

26. He'll play scripture pictionary with me when I'm bored in church. His drawings are AMAZING.

27. He laughs at my jokes and has a very individual sense of humor.

28. He's cute.

29. He's my best friend.

I wish he was older so I could write more...