6/14/2007

Happy Birthday!

Tomorrow is T's 37th birthday.

My mother-in-law has kept a journal for most of her life, so I know a bit about T as a baby. It was hot the Summer he was born and there was no air conditioning at the house on his family's farm in Southwest Nebraska. There was sand in the well water MIL used to wash T's diapers and it gave him a horrible diaper rash. So T was a cranky baby for a few months. One entry from MIL's journal reads "T was nasty today." For some reason that makes me laugh and I remind him of it when he's grumpy.

MIL and FIL have also told me that T was quite an, um, energetic child. An endearing trait that he has passed to our sons. When he was a tween, he and his younger brother decided to bring the calf they were raising for 4-H into the house. Through the living room. He still doesn't remember why, but they thought it was a really good idea at the time.

T and his brother, K, liked to play Superman in the tree in the front yard. They had the brilliant idea to put blankets on as capes and jump out of the tree, whereupon they would of course soar into the air. T didn't want to try it first. Neither did K. So T pushed K out of the tree. Apparently K still has the scar from the nasty tree gouging he received. The boys thought they'd get in trouble, so they never told their parents.

And then there was the time T backed over his brother in the truck. And the time he almost shot him. And... I could go on and on.

When T was 17, he joined the Navy and went off to boot camp. He spent some time in Florida, Chicago, and two years in Scotland. Then he came home and finished college, with degrees in history and political science, in three years. When I met him he was in graduate school working on his Masters in International Relations. Now T is a computer geek, and it suits him, but he loves to talk and argue politics.

T loves to eat pickled pigs feet (ewwww), olives, and steak. He loves Spring above all other seasons. He can't pick out a matching outfit to save his life.

T loves to take the boys for rides on his lawn mower. He wants to teach them to ride horses and how to milk a cow. He's teaching them to say "yes, sir" and "no, ma'am" and to be good men.

T loves to give hugs at least 50 times a day. He always ends his calls to his parents with "I love you." He's not afraid to tell me what he feels.

T cried after Hollis was born because he was so overwhelmed with love. He loves to watch the boys sleeping. He would do anything for me or the boys. Anything.

We are so lucky.

I am so lucky.

Happy Birthday, T.
I love you.

32 comments:

  1. Hey Happy Birthday to him!

    And what a great gift this post is. Veyr nice. :)

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  2. This was so lovely. I hope he has a wonderful birthday with his wonderfully appreciative family. This post also made me reflect on how nice it will be to share these stories with Mme L when she's older (and any future partners).

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  3. Awww, that was really fun to read! He sounds like a real sweety. But what a brilliant idea that your MIL had to keep that journal and then share it with you! That's so, so cool.

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  4. Awww, what a sweetie you have. Happy Birthday!

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  5. I just got a little weepy, what a lovely tribute. Happy Birthday to your wonderful man

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  6. What a beautiful tribute to him! Happy Birthday to your man!

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  7. He definitely sounds like one of the good ones.

    Such a nice tribute, LM.

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  8. That was one of the nicest Birthday Posts I've read in a long time. Happy Birthday, T. I see nothing was mentioned about being a die-hard Husker. Thank goodness.

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  9. Gotta love a 4-H boy, even if he eats pickled pig's feet! :)

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  10. DD - Oooooh, did I leave that out? Isn't it required for every person born in the state? Do they inject the babies with something in the hospital?

    He's a HUGE Husker fan. Huge. Me, not so much.

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  11. It is fantastic that your MIL kept a journal and that she shared it with you. And it sounds like she raised a fantastic boy, too. Happy Birthday to him, and congrats to you for reeling in such a catch :)

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  12. I just love this post.

    Happy Birthday Mr. T! I pity da fool that doesn't give Mr. T some respect on his birthday!

    Sorry. A little drunk.

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  13. Jenny - You always have an uncanny knack for catching me off guard. *This* time I snorted Diet Dr. Pepper up my nose. Ouch.

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  14. What a keeper!!

    Happy Birthday T!

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  15. I'm with everyone else--what a beautiful tribute. Sounds like a wonderful guy. Hope he has a great birthday!

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  16. he sounds wonderful. and that makes me happy for both of you.

    but the pigs feet...oy.

    happy birthday to all of you.

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  17. Happy Birthday, I'm sure he'll enjoy his day.

    Cheers

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  18. Happy Birthday to Mr.T! He looks very cute too:)Thanks for sharing those nice facts about him.Where's the photo of his birthday cake?

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  19. Linda - Birthday cake? Baaaahaaaa!

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  20. What, No birthday cake? He eats pigs feet but not cake?

    What a sweet tribute. Happy B-day Mr. T - see you tonight!

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  21. This is just so sweet I could cry. Or gag a little. But that's mostly due to the pickled pigs feet bit.

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  22. Happy Birthday, T! Double dipping in the present pool with Father's Day coming up!

    My sister-in-law loves pig's feet. Evidently you've got to learn to love them as a child.

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  23. Beautiful! And just in time for Father's Day, too!

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  24. Pickled pigs feet? And you kiss that mouth?! Blecchhh!

    HBD, T! You are one in a million!

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  25. Crying.

    Such a beautiful birthday present.

    I'm sure he feels as maxed out in the lucky department as you do.

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  26. he sounds like a lovely, lovely man. what on earth he was doing in that, erm, vivid cummerbund shall remain a mystery that we should perhaps never speak of again. :)

    unless...wait...um...you didn't? nah...you didn't. right? he picked it? tell me it's true.

    tell me it's burnt.

    and tell him happy happy birthday. :)

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  27. Bon - I now LOVE you! We had such fights over the selection of the tux & cumerbunds. I refused to have an entire wedding party full of those things! (But in his defense, it was 1995!)

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  28. Hmm, that sounds familiar!

    My husband can't pick an outfit to save his life either but that's not the worst of it. His unabashed ambivilence to wrinkles gives me heart palpitations. I mean, to WORK, you have to not have a line across your pants that shows where you draped them on the hanger! (Nevermind that I bought him hangers to cinch them at the "feet" so that they hang unwrinkled...ugh!)

    My husband and his brother were playing in a field in some new pants his mom bought for school. DH got caught on the barbed wire fence and couldn't get out. They were afraid to tell their mom because they knew she would be mad because the pants were new.... so his brother ran to the house and got scissors... and cut DH free. Because a big hole in his pants would NOT make her mad?? Men and their logic. ;-P

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  29. What a lovely post.

    Although, I'm surprised he and his brother both survived childhood after reading this! heh heh

    I hope he had a great birthday.

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