Bragging on my Guy

So this is a kind of a brag post.  Consider this your warning to stop reading now if those kinds of things make you choke on your coffee.
First off, for the last month or so, more or less since we've been back from Virginia, I've been down, bummed, depressed, you name it.  It probably has something to do with all of the people we know who are in a lot of pain.  We've heard about everything from job losses and all kinds of financial sufferings to illnesses to the loss of homes in fire.  Then there are the visual reminders of our state's desperate need for something we cannot ourselves provide as our water is rationed and the trees die all around us.  Everywhere, people seem to be standing, hands raised, yearning for drops of blessing from above.  As I wait though, it is Chris who is a blessing.  He loves me in a very tangible way and I couldn't write one more word tonight without thanking him and reminding myself to be a blessing right back to him.

Things Chris has done for me lately:

*Took the kids to and from Super Friday so that I'd have a nice chunk of uninterrupted time
*Spent a Saturday cleaning out a long joint closet in our room, including organizing all of my shoes while I enjoyed time with Grace, the recent birthday girl
*Did not give me a hard time for the very large number of shoes I own that take up a very large amount of our joint closet (Mia gleefully counted 49 pairs--excessive for sure)
*Told me I look fine (he does that a lot really but I never get tired of it--and I try not to let it go to my head :)
*Spent an evening helping me with a Frodo Seven IT issue.  It was something I'd been trying to fix for awhile and couldn't have done without him.
*Encouraged me to buy my own domain name for a new blog dedicated to my writing projects.  He sat and participated in the whole exciting process.
*Read the girls an article about a firefighter, father of five, who lost his life on 9-11.  His voice wobbled and though the younger girls didn't notice, I was truly inspired by this guy I married.  Chris is solid.  He too would have gone back out at the end of his shift humping 75 pounds of gear, willing to lose his life.  I know him.

Marriage is such a funny thing.  You never master it.  It's like a circle spreading constantly outward.  The more you progress and learn, the greater the surface area, the more unknown, the more work there is to do.  I think that Chris and I are like most couples.  We have the ups and downs and ins and outs of life.  At our core though is the seriousness with which we took--and take--our vows.  Embracing the whole ideal of Catholic marriage is an awesome task and yet so very worth it.  God keeps His promises to those who are faithful to theirs.  I consider Chris a gift I don't humanly deserve but his goodness to me, his love, is a tangible proof of God's unconditional love.  Sometimes I feel like God is winking at me saying, "you never dreamed this did you?"  I really didn't.