Happy Birthday to My Hubby (One Day Late)

Yesterday was my husband's birthday.  He spent most of it flying an airplane from Paris to NYC, then commuting from there and finally arriving home at about 9:30 p.m.  Not a great way to spend your birthday.  Since it was so late by the time he got home and we're celebrating officially tonight by having dinner with our second son and his girlfriend, his birthday dinner was leftovers.  And I'm ashamed to even admit this, but when I woke up yesterday, for some crazy reason I thought it was the 18th, and I didn't even dedicate my blog post to him.  I wrote instead about an oak sideboard in my dining room that my mother had handed down to me!  Give me a break!  (At least I did talk about my beloved in that post; I did say that when he used to call me on the phone my heart would go pitter-pat.  But what I didn't say was "HAPPY BIRTHDAY"!)

So today, I give you the birthday boy.  Is he the cutest thing you've ever seen or what?  And look how proud he is of that ribbon he's holding.  (I believe that was from a swim meet.)

Here, he's a cute ten-year-old (who looks so much like our middle son at the same age that it's eerie), wearing the black Chuck Taylor Converse sneakers that became his trademark--and that he sports to this day.  His smile is still as engaging as it was back then, but nowadays along with his Chucks he wears shirts that fit him a bit better.  I love, love, love his smiling face, the way it looked when he was a skinny young lad in a charmingly too-small polo shirt, and the way it looks now; it's the best face there is in all the world.

54 years ago (as of yesterday! Which was the 19th!), my favorite person in the world--my best friend, my high school sweetheart, my prom date, my long-distance college sweetheart/pen pal, my doting husband of 31-plus years, the devoted father of my five sons --was born.  When he came into the world, he made it a better place.

I don't even know how to express my love and appreciation for this man adequately.  I can't imagine my life without him.

When we began our married life together, my husband was in flight school, on his way to becoming a Naval Aviator who flew fighter jets.  He loved his Navy flying career, but gave it all up just after the birth of son #4, so that he could set down roots for his kids--so that they could live in one town the whole time they were growing up, which was a dream we had for them.  Everything he has ever done, every choice he has ever made, has been for those boys and me.  He is the most selfless person I have ever known.

My husband has been an airline pilot for the past 24 years...and a Pee Wee football coach, a youth league lacrosse coach, the coordinator/trainer of the altar servers at our parish church, a lector, a school board member at our kids' Catholic grade school, a high school freshman football coach, a high school varsity lacrosse coach...and all the while, the most loving and devoted husband and father in the world.  Now, the title "doting Papa" can be added to his list of accomplishments.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: my husband is my hero.

So here's wishing a Happy Birthday (one day late) to that heroic hubby of mine.  I think I'll keep him.