First I need to preface.  Tim hate’s prefaces… its like a warning to either delay the conversation or put the defensive hat on, or leave the room completely.  Anyhow, I need to preface.  IT is our 13th anniversary today (officially it is Monday).  Tim sent me this note letting me know that he wrote this as a draft for his blog.  But the problem is that he decided he didn’t want to post it.  Tim is not a very personal blog type… his is a foreign language and he speaks techno only.  Anyhow, he wanted me to have it so I knew what he was working on.  It was wonderful to read, doesn’t everyone want a nice love letter?  Now listen, I don’t get these often so I am keeping it here as my treasure.  I am keeping this so I can remind him how he really feels.  : ]

I asked his permission to keep it, to put it in my “journal” and as personal as he is, he agreed to let me do whatever I want with it.  Too bad I don’t have the passwords to get past all the lockdowns on his blog!

Title: My Wife

In my world of technology, Twitter, and blogging, I write a lot, talk a lot and get really excited about anything new in technology or gadgets.  Whenever I have a free moment, I usually write a blog post about them or I’ve taken the time to prepare a blog post about a specific topic in depth that I’m very interested in and want to share with others.  I have not, however, ever been ‘in depth’ with my personal life.  I suppose it is just because I want to protect my personal life from any weirdness or crossover in my professional life.  My personal life is, well, personal. 

There have been times though that I wish I could share with the world my emotions at any given time, good or bad.  Such as the birth of my kids (more my son, but only because I wasn’t blogging until after my daughter was born).  What an emotional time that is for any human being to realize the wonderful miracle of life, and also feel the awesome weight of responsibility immediately upon your shoulders as a parent and being the complete protector and teacher for a new life.  An amazing mixed bag of emotions in a split second.

For the past 13 years, I’ve been married to a wonderful woman who has endured a lot of quirkiness in my habits and a roller coaster of emotional baggage I have brought into our marriage :-).  I’ll save the storied past of what that means, but suffice it to say I haven’t had the solid sense of ‘family’ for a while…for various reasons.  Needless to say my wife, Lisa, has been a pillar of strength for me since the day we married. 

My wife is a great mother, the best that I could have ever imagined.  She is amazing with our kids.  She is amazing with our friends and neighborhoods.  The once coy and reserved woman I married is no longer.  She can not be found with idle hands and usually is found organizing something for someone other than herself.  Through her inspiration and passion, we’ve so far been able to successfully navigate this crazy world safely and successfully.  For that alone, I feel blessed to be with her.

We share good times and we share bad times.  Neither of us are without faults.  Nor do I expect that the future only holds good times.  Heck, this is life after all!  I hope that our future will be filled with many more good times with us personally, with our children and with our friends.  Whatever bad times that may be, I hope we can weather them together…unified as we’ve done before.  My wife is usually the more balanced one between us and helps me see through my frustrations that I can be a better person…not all the time, but mostly :-).

She has challenged me to be a different person — encouraged me to branch out into areas of life I would have never been.  From the first time we were married as a secluded, introverted couple who would drive into our home each night, closing the garage before we’d turn off our car…to the social butterflies we’ve become…thinking it has been a bad week if we didn’t go out with at least 2 of our neighbors during the week!  Had it not been for Lisa, I’d still be closing my garage.

For my wife, Lisa, I will tell you that I love your passion and drive.  Whenever you set out to do something or even are curious, we all know what the end will be for you — accomplishment.  I love that about you.  You have an intoxicating smile, a great sense of fun and adventure (even if it still takes a lot for me to go along with), and are a blessed mother to our children.  For all those I couldn’t be more thankful.  I hope that our lives together only enrich us individually…I promise I’ll continue to do my best from my end…and strive to do better at every possible moment…even if there are patches of ice that cause me to slip.

Our jobs will change, our finances will experience peaks and lows themselves and we may move several times in life, making new friends along the way.  But the only thing constant in our lives is those who surround us daily.  For that we should stop for a moment and realize the love we have for those individuals and share that with them.

Lisa – I love you very much.

Always,

Tim