My wife is...

...amazing! I'm sure a lot of people might say that about their spouse, but I am honestly blown away at her sometimes.

She has this remarkable ability of lifting the spirits of everyone she's around. I have never once, in the past 11 years of marriage, come home wondering if I should walk on egg shells or not. When I married her, she worked at the college we went to as the assistant to the Athletic Director. I'll never forget him pulling me aside one day and telling me how he never had to worry about what kind of mood Rian was in. He said he usually made most girls cry, but not Rian (he happened to be the women's basketball coach too -- Rian played for him for 2 years in college).

In the past month, I have just been blown away at her. She has been able to use that God given gift to minister to her sister for a couple weeks, when she needed her, and now with her family. As I type this, she is in a hospital room with her family in Joplin, MO (where it's 11:51 pm!) waiting for her grandpa, who she loves very much, to pass away. Like with every family, there are some "uncomfortable" elephants in the room whenever all her family is present, but Rian handles these situations with such grace and dignity. Instead of adding drama to an already tough situation, she has this ability make things... sweeter. Truly remarkable to me. I am so proud to be her husband.

When all is said and done, she will have been gone for about 4 of the past 5 1/2 weeks, from me and our girls spending much needed time with family. And, although there is a HUGE GAPING whole when she is not here... God has allowed this time for me to fall in love with her more. She inspires me to want to be the best husband and dad I can be.

Here comes the cheesy (but true) line... I think I am the luckiest man alive!