Passionate Perseverance: top ten reasons i love jerry...

When I met you on a blind date 24 years ago, you were wearing your midshipman dress blues and my heart went pitter patter. Tall, blond and so dogon handsome! My hands were sweaty and I kept giggling in a very weird high pitch that I have yet to duplicate to this day. Then after graduation you donned a flight suit and I was done for! As they say there is NOTHING like a man in uniform! So true...

Inside that uniform beat the heart of a warrior. A man filled with love for his God and his country willing to lay down his life for either cause. To watch you sing Navy Blue and Gold or the National Anthem still brings tears to my eyes because I know you MEAN every single word your saying. As your rich baritone voice rises to the heavens, it just takes my breath away sometimes. I have waited for you on a tarmac to return to me and port side as well. Those days of service were not easy but they were never boring! I will never forget. I love you my fly boy...now and always.

I have never met ANYONE who this saying describes more than you my dear. I am just so grateful that I love to cook and bake or else we would be in BIG trouble. You are Ward Cleaver in the 21st century. As long as I don't serve liver and onions we are good to go...

Yes, I know you are a Caucasian male but God skipped you when it came to the dance coordination gene. I mean, he skipped you by a country mile. What I love is that it doesn't stop you from getting out on that dance floor and having a great time. You don't care what you look like (think Snoopy on speed) or that people may or may not be laughing hysterically at your attempts to be the modern day Fred Astaire. You dance because I love to dance and you love me.

Now that I have entered into menopause (yeah me!) you have been patient beyond measure. You can tell when the hot flash is coming and have on occasion cleared the room before I FLAME ON as you so delicately put it. No matter how short my temper or how tired I am you are there to be my helpmate. Thank you...now PLEASE turn on that fan!

I mean really did you ever see a C or a B for that matter...in your life? You amaze me with your intellectual abilities. Your logic and reasoning skills sometimes thrill me but most times frustrate me. I am so NOT that way as you well know. Thank you for giving our children a fighting chance in the academic world. I can't wait to be able to call you "Professor". You are almost there my love. I promise to support you to the end.

You don't buy me jewelry or fancy duds but your more than willing to clean a bathroom or the kitchen if necessary. You show me your love by serving and I am blessed for it. Thank you for every scrubbed floor or shampooed carpet in the past 22 years. They beat a diamond any day!

You converted to the Catholic faith eleven years after we married. I watched you study and seek the truth for yourself NOT to please your wife or children. It was an absolute joy to watch you be confirmed and receive our Lord for the first time. Now to stand beside you each Sunday, to see you pray in earnest in for me and our family or in praise to God or to hold your hand during our family rosary, all of these things allude to a deep and abiding faith that you hold in your heart. Thank you for loving us enough to pray for us everyday.

Whether we are in the ICU or the check out line at the grocery store, you ALWAYS make me laugh. ALWAYS! On more than one occasion when things were dire you had a way of seeing the humor in that situation. Your remind me of my Dad that way. If we're not laughing we're crying and it's much more fun to laugh!

You LOVE your children and me with a veracity and strength that is rare today. You have NEVER wavered in that love and devotion. You are our strong tower, shelter over us with God by your side I have never felt alone or unprotected in my life. You sacrifice daily for us. You are my protector and my love. You really do complete me! Trite but true.

as we celebrate your birthday today with LOTS of pork products and truly dear friends, I just wanted to tell the world that I definitely got the better end of the deal in this marriage. Thank you for loving me and our family with all you have.