Talking Up My Better Half

I really like that poster above. It makes me laugh. But over the last couple of weeks, certain events have made me realize how much I want to be the one learning from mistakes and not be the one providing a clear path of what not to do for others who follow.

I am coming to a realization that what I have with Shannon is not necessarily the norm. I am truly blessed and lucky to have the wife I have and the relationship that we have. We enjoy being together. We enjoy visiting with each other. We are getting ready to pull a quick down and back to the temple tomorrow and I am looking forward to the time spent on the drive just getting to talk with Shannon without the constant, "Mom, mom, mom, I need a drink." or "Mom, mom, mom...ummmm how much longer do we have to be in the car?" I am not sure why three moms are needed or why everything must be said at a decible level that causes dogs in passing cars to look at us in horror, but apparently it is necessary. I have had great friends in my life. Jared, Brad, Eric and Brandon in high school. Chris, Gary, Spencer, Preston, Mike and Toby in College and Heath, Spencer, Danny, Phil and Rhett as an adult (among many others). I couldn't ask for better friends. But I have never had a better friend than Shannon. There have been times when I have struggled to see what my worth is in this world, but she has never doubted in me. Or at least if she has, she hides it incredibly well.

So today, even though it is not an anniversary, birthday, time honored day we both treasure or anything else special, I want to reflect on some of the best memories we have made over the last 13 and a 1/2 years together. For every one mentioned, there are probably 20 to 30 I have left out that are just as good, but it is a blog post, not a novel. Here goes:

-On our wedding night, we got to the hotel and were told because of our ages, we couldn't just pay the rate to stay in the room, but we actually had to have a $250 deposit. Neither one of us had a credit card nor did we have the cash on hand. So began the mad dash looking for a Bank One ATM. At that time, you couldn't hardly spit and not hit one, but not that night. We drove for several miles before we finally found one. Talk about taking a pressure filled evening and adding just that extra bit of stress. On a side note, we were in room 711. The double entendres regarding convenience stores were limitless. I could just imagine my friend Spencer Bigler having a field day with that.

-In our first apartment, we lived less than half a mile from an Olive Garden and ate there at least once a week. Those were awesome times. However, one night, my paycheck had not cleared through the bank and so my bank card was rejected. We scraped together whatever cash we could, but the best we could do was pay for our food with absolutely nothing left for the tip. Our waiter wasn't very good anyway, but we were so embarrassed, I don't think we went back for at least two weeks. He wasn't there when we returned and we never saw him again.

-The night Abby was born was awesome. So many memories including: Laying down to go to sleep and just as I hit that wonderful state of nirvana, Shannon shaking me awake saying, "I think my water just broke." Boy was that an understatement. Then we get to the hospital and the nurse poking her head around the corner and asking what we wanted. After telling her we were having a baby, she said, "What makes you so sure?" Then the patosin (sp?). We were both so exhausted that we would fall asleep until the next contraction hit and then she would wake up and be very mad at me if I wasn't fully alert and monitoring the contraction's progress. A couple of times she asked me if it was going down and caught me answering with my eyes closed. She was not appreciative.

-Bathroom stops on the way to Disneyland. These have been the source of some great memories that began with our 5 year anniversary trip to Disneyland and stopping in Quartzsite. Never a worse hole have we found than that first one. That was followed by the one with an inch of water on the floor with Abby, then the 95 mile an hour desparation drive to the road-side rest stop with Abby and then finally culminting with the bathroom that wasn't during the traffic jam on I-10. The less I say about that one, the better it will be for me later on. We hadn't had a good memory to rival those until our quest for a bathroom on the stretch from Yarnell, AZ to Quartzsite, AZ which we have chronicled on this site back in March. But it bears repeating that as my poor wife was dying in the passenger seat, we would actually pass a sign that says, "You are beyond Hope." True irony.

-My wife has had a few mishaps in our vehicles. One time, she ran into a six inch wide concrete post that was painted yellow. She didn't tell me about it because she knew I would be upset. The fatal flaw in her plan was when I noticed the bright yellow paint on the front bumper of our car. The idea of running into a concrete post and then not telling me about it? Yeah, that didn't make me upset at all. I have to hand it to her though. She held the gloating to a minimum the night we pulled into our garage and I thought my foot was on the brake but instead it was actually the gas and I tapped it and sent our van right through the wall of our garage. The one thing she couldn't hold back saying though was, "I am so glad it was you finally."

-I have said it before, but I will never be able to fully thank her for all she did with the year of my mother's illness and then her passing.

Now we are in a new stage of life and she continues to amaze me. For the last three months, Shannon has had to take on more than her share of the responsibilities around the house. I am sure there are some weeks she feels almost like a single mother. I feel bad about that. We used to work together to get the kids ready for church and now that falls mainly to her. She has to keep track of them all by herself in church because the evil eye from dad only works part of the time and that is only if you can get the kids to look at you in the first place. I love her. I am amazed by her. And I am looking forward to seeing where our lives go from here. But I am certain of one thing. Wherever my life goes, it will only be at its best when she is there with me.