CELEBRATION

This past Sunday, my husband celebrated his birthday. And a B-I-G birthday it was (big number, that is). It was a birthday marked by an age that ends with a ZERO. Yes, another decade. Another 10 years. A new 10 years to look forward to... For those of you who don't know D that well (or don't know that there is a little bit of an age difference between us), you'll probably be surprised to learn that my husband turned 40 on Sunday.

He doesn't look a day over 30 and can still eat (and not gain a pound) like a 16 year old boy.










In honor of D's 40th birthday, I thought I'd share 40 things I love about my husband:

1. he's a really good listener
2. he's a fantastic, fun-loving father
3. he makes me laugh
4. he committed to running a marathon with me to show me he was interested in pursuing me hard
5. we have several inside jokes between us that never seem to get old
6. he's really good at his job and his clients love him
7. he has a really great group of friends
8. he likes to travel
9. he's run two marathons with me
10. he was my biggest fan at last year's NYC marathon
11. he encouraged me to quit my job and enter a PhD program
12. he listens (without complaining) to me go on and on about statistics and never complains
13. he always drives when we go on a road trip
14. we accomplished two of his life goals together on our honeymoon: surfing and hang-gliding
15. he is a fabulous cook
16. he pays all of our bills/manages our money
17. he introduced me to iGoogle
18. he cooks 99.99 percent of our meals
19. he cleans up the kitchen after cooking all of those meals
20. he cleans all of the dirty diapers in the evening
21. he encourages me to sleep in on the weekends when K gets up early
22. he loves eating a meal slowly, having good conversation, and enjoying some nice wine
23. watching him enjoy every moment of our dinner at Per Se brought me so much joy
24. his shrimp/dill salad is to die for
25. other "to die for" items D cooks: eggplant with carmelized onions, bulgar wheat pancakes (with almond powder), pumpkin pancakes, seared sea scallops, vegetarian meatloaf with butternut squash
26. he laughed when I locked us out of our hotel room on our honeymoon
27. he's took care of me when I burst my eardrum, got a concussion, and had the flu
28. he has completed numerous triathlons in the past two years and wants to do more
29. he's content staying home, ordering pizza, and splitting a beer with me (on a Friday night)
30. he held my hand during my c-section as I was throwing up continuously and didn't let go (even though I yelled at him mercilessly during labor)
31. he forgives me again and again and again
32. he enjoys cooking dinner for me and my girlfriends
33. he likes to snuggle
34. he went out with me and two of my friends to a high school basketball game as part of our first date
35. he bought me two engagement rings
36. he married me twice
37. he laughs at and with me (when appropriate)
38. he is honest
39. he is kind
40. he's the best friend I've ever known

Happy birthday, D. Love you.