1. He's kind of a redneck, but he's also kind of wonderful.
When I met him, he was fairly poor. Well, we both were. I was poor because I had no sense of budget and had a pretty intense addiction to Rosa's. He was poor because all of his money went to gas and rent... and taking me to Rosa's. The yard wasn't a priority, never mind any type of garden. We never discussed his love for outdoors because we spent all of our free time re-watching episodes of "Friends" and making out when it was time to say goodbye. You see, he tricked me into falling in love with him before he ever mentioned "the farm," "Hunting," or "Love being outside." It's probably better that he kept it to himself, because I probably would have said "Big Cities," "Shopping at Crate and Barrel," or "Coffee Houses" in response. Our common interests were the opposite of common, but somehow the Lord made it work. And now, while I wave from the door when he goes hunting (I went with him once. Apparently you don't sing showtunes while you wait for the deer to come. You just sit and freeze. It's fun for some people, apparently.), we've both changed and compromised our lifestyles. I'm really excited to see who Ella takes after. Will she curl up on the couch and finish a book in an afternoon, or Will she spend hours on end outside, looking for anything to keep her there? Will she drink coffee while discussing dreams, or prefer to dig around in the dirt while discussing ways that she can better her garden? Maybe she'll drink coffee WHILE she waters her garden and picks weeds, like I caught her Daddy doing last weekend. Anyway, he's not a city man, but he finds his own ways to enjoy it. I'm not a farm child, but being there with him kind of makes it feel like home. Sometimes we have to work through his redneck solutions (Like supergluing our child's curtain rod together,) but we have managed to bring "our side" out of of each other, so I love it.
2. He is IN LOVE with his child.
I know that she isn't here yet, but she's captivated her Daddy to his Very Core. There are times that I ponder whether he even sees me when he comes home at night. The first thing he does is wrap his arms around the planet attached to me and say "Hey Ella! How was your day?!" This goes on for about 5 minutes, and it always thrills him to his bones when she starts wiggling in response. I'm generally not allowed to partake in their conversations, and I'm shushed when I say "Ow..." when I get kicked in the ribs during their talks. He's so anxious to meet her that he paces our hallway when he starts thinking about it. He'll talk to anybody that wants to listen about "His" baby. Apparently I've had nothing to do with the process so far. He has daddy/daughter dates planned from now until she's at least 25. He talks to her about the latest studio equipment (though I'm pretty sure it puts both of us to sleep) and insists that Friday mornings will be dedicated to bettering her knowledge of the latest compressors. Part of me feels bad for her, but the other part of me remembers being willing to be interested in anything if it meant being around my dad. The two are already falling madly in love with each other, and while sometimes I feel a tinge of "Hey, little girl... he's mine...," I mostly smile and thank the Lord that she'll never know a life without knowing the love of her Daddy.
3. He's the hardest working man I know, and he's passionate about it.
Everybody has a weird passion in their life. In every marriage, each spouse is going to have a weird hobby that the other spouse will never understand. I don't know what my weird hobby is for Cody, but we both know that for me, his studio obsession is territory we'll never be able to discuss. The wonderful thing about that is that he is so passionate and so dedicated to it that he doesn't even need me to care. He has a friend that he's able to bounce ideas off of (much to the demise and annoyance of anybody in the room who doesn't care about the latest plug-in), and if he gets focused enough, he'll spend hours researching ONE piece of studio equipment. It drives me absolutely crazy. Sometimes I have to intervene and say "Hi, you've been in here for 5 hours..." but most of the time I stay out of his way. I respect that he picked something to be passionate about at a young age, and he pursued it. He achieved a degree in something that brought him joy, even though there were times that we both struggled paying the loan each month. Audio Engineering is a really cool degree, but studios are kind of a dying breed since everybody records in their house and "mixes" it themselves these days. But instead of being bitter, he threw himself further into it after work and on the weekends, and the Lord has blessed his faithfulness to the parts of his life that didn't make him feel "alive." He worked hard at a job that he really didn't enjoy very much for a long time, and now he works at a job that he himself has described as "Ideal." He gets to research equipment that would better his work environment, go to conventions and witness these things in the flesh, and spend his days surrounded by the things he went to school for all of those years ago. Jeremiah 29:11 is such a cliche to use, but I love how true it rings in his world. I'll never be able to relate, and I'll probably go to my grave rolling my eyes at his enthusiasm for microphones, but I hope Ella sees how much joy it brings him. I hope she pursues what she loves, even if the "job rate" isn't the greatest.
4. He's the most loyal, forgiving, and Faithful man in the world.
This may come as a shock to some of you, but I tend to be a grudge holder. Okay. Maybe that wasn't a shock at all. It isn't my best character trait, but I can acknowledge it, and it's something I'm working through, and I've come a long way from the old Kaylea... but I still struggle with it. I tend to be the person that burns bridges after I've been wronged, usually citing that "I don't need that in my life." So dramatic. I don't keep in touch with people if I don't see them on a regular basis, and I don't really know why...it's never been my personality to "keep the relationship going." I say all of this because there have been times in our relationship when Cody and I have had knock-out drag-outs over some of the people in his life. I won't go into detail about any of it, but he's been faithful and gracious to a few people in his life that didn't deserve it. He's maintained relationships after people have said and done things that would've landed me in jail if they were done to me. After repeated questioning on my end about why he allows some of these people in his life, he always shrugs and says "They're just lost. You never gave up on me." And then it sucker punches me in the gut and I roll my eyes and say "Hm." Because that's the best thing to say when you're unexpected clotheslined by your husband's grace. I don't want you to misinterpret, he's certainly not a pushover, and when a line is crossed, he'll take care of business. But 9 times out of 10, his heart is softened because he recognizes that most of the time, people need grace. People need mercy. I know that Ella is going to make a few bad decisions in her life. I know that there will be times when I am prepared to murder her, and that's when her daddy will step in front of me and say "We'll handle this on a discipline level, but before any of that, she's going to know how much we love her." And then after she's been disciplined, he'll likely be the one to take my hand and go back to her later to make sure she knows we love her again. He isn't a mushy person, but he's tender hearted, and he finds the subtlest of ways to captivate me again and again. I know that he'll be the same way with our daughter, especially if she's a vigilante like me.. she'll need somebody to bring her back down to earth every once in awhile.
5. He loves me in ways that I can't find the words to describe.
Okay. That's all. We didn't make a huge deal out of Mother's Day or Father's Day to each other this year, as we technically haven't earned those rights. We still sleep through the night (well, he does) and we haven't been victim to an explosive diaper or projectile vomit from our daughter. We're coming into our roles as parents, but I still wanted to take a minute and celebrate the one that the Lord chose for me. Because that's what you do when you're crazy about somebody. See ya next week!
Large Marge out.
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