Josh is 25

WARNING: This post contains high-fructose sappiness and may induce vomiting or extreme jealousy.

Today marks the 25^th anniversary of Josh’s birth. Sounds like a great excuse to make a list of things I love about that man don’t you think? Here are 25 things I love about Josh:

1. He drives me to work because the weather man says it might snow a little bit. He also drives me when there’s a blizzard, and when it’s 102 degrees outside. But anytime there is any chance of snow in the forecast, he makes sure to drive me. Maybe it’s because he doesn’t want to pay for an accident, but I choose to think it’s because he loves me.
2. He calls me his “wonderful wife”.
3. He likes to be healthy. Not something I always love, but since I started the 6 month sugar fast, it’s been so nice that nobody whines or complains when I don’t feel like making birthday cake, cookies, or any other dessert.  Plus he’s supportive of anything I decide to do health-wise. Nothing is off limits to him.
4. He tells me the truth. Every single time (except when he thinks he’s funny “Bishop asked us to speak in Sacrament meeting tomorrow….” That’s not honest. But I love him anyway). In all the things that matter, he always tells me the truth. He even confesses his sins to me (like when he ate ALL of the cookie dough that I planned to use for visiting teaching) even if he knows he’ll be in trouble.
5. He hates debt. I hate debt too, but for some reason I’m not as good at staying out of it as he is. He doesn’t buy things he doesn’t already have money for, even big things. We paid off my 5 year car loan in a year because it made him so anxious to have a monthly payment.
6. He is the world’s best listener. I think a lot of wives have to teach their husbands how to listen to them, I don’t know what that’s like because Josh just came with expert listening skills.
7. He doesn’t believe in “man” or “woman” jobs. He does laundry, cooks, and cleans as much as I do.
8. He can make any kid laugh within 5 seconds if he wants to. “Who wants to be tickled” he shouts while he “raises their hands” and gets them in the armpits.
9. He’s a dreamer. If he wants to do something he just does it. “I wanna be a massage therapist” he says. And now he is. “I wanna go to nursing school” he says. And he is. “Let’s go to Alaska” “Let’s save $10,000 in a year” “We should buy a house” “I’m gonna build some food storage shelves” “I will be a master yoga instructor on our Wii by the end of the week” OK he’s not really close on that one….
10. He knows how to apologize. Even if it isn’t his fault he’ll tell me he’s sorry because he loves me and doesn’t ever want me to be unhappy. I think that’s sweet, and it always makes me sorry for being the one who did something wrong in the first place.
11. He’s lovable. He knows how to get along with everybody, all kinds of people, they immediately love him and he loves them all right back.
12. He can keep his wrists on top of his head, while talking like a ventriloquist for like 30 minutes at a time.
13. He looks really great in a tux.
14. He cuts his own hair. One of those things he couldn’t bear to pay for on his mission, so he just started doing it himself and hasn’t stopped.
15. He loves to camp, and even dares to get in the water at Alexander Lake. Even though it’s cold and he doesn’t like swimming.
16. He lets me tell him he shouldn’t say cuss words. And he lets me correct his grammar. “’Where are we’, not ‘where are we at’”.
17. He cooks! His mom told me that she always used him to put the right spices in her soups, so I can too. He can taste something and tell right away what it needs. That’s not a gift I have.
18. He has the perfect crying shoulder. Maybe I’ve just molded it to my face after more breakdowns than I care to admit to having, but he knows just how to hold me to make it all better.
19. He can fix almost anything. He did a lot of work on his truck by himself, he fixed our frozen pipes, he builds things, he puts stuff together, he took care of my “potato peels in the sink” incident. I couldn’t figure out what he meant when he said he couldn’t fix our ice dispenser. He’s never said that to me before because he really can fix almost anything.
20. He’s romantic. He proposed to me at Sunset on top of the world on my birthday after taking me to all of our “first date” places.  It just doesn’t get any better than that.
21. He’s fun to be around. It doesn’t matter if we snow-shoeing, swimming (which he hates), playing games, hiking, talking, watching a movie, or anything else. He is always good company, which is a good thing for a best friend to be.
22. He sometimes lets me win. Like water fights with the squirter thing in the kitchen. He doesn’t always take it away from me and drown me with it, sometimes he just lets me get him last then uses me as a mop to clean up the mess. Or snow-ball fights! One time he let me tackle him in the knee-deep snow and didn’t evn white wash me! See? That’s love.
23. He doesn’t make fun of my old-man wheeze laugh. You shouldn’t either, it’s not nice.
24. He dances with me in the kitchen. Let me explain a couple of things (a) we can’t dance. We’d like to learn how, but we haven’t learned, and we do it anyway. (b) my daddy always danced with my mom (and me) in the kitchen growing up, and I happen to think it’s the most romantic thing that any two people could ever do.
25. He tells me he loves me every single day. And I believe him.