I was speaking with someone the other day about a job I needed
done on my house.
Near the end of the conversation they made some comment about
Madison House and then followed up with this,
“I’ve heard a lot of good things about you.”
I hesitated for a second and then responded with a smile,
“Thanks. If you hear anything bad about me I would think
that is true as well.”
They laughed, but not really. I think the nakedness of the
idea caught them off guard. They recovered quickly, a very classy man, he was.
Kimberley is an amazing woman. She’s always writing
incredible things about me. I don’t have her same perspective on me. I see a never ending mess ahead of me that I’m
struggling to give back to Christ on daily basis, mostly failing but with
patches of light that help me continue.
Kimberley is electric, an Adonis, a blazing fire on a long
bitterly cold day. She is entirely the
funniest woman I’ve ever met and the gentlest heart.
To hear other men talk about their wives, then listen as Kimberley
imparts to me marriages she catches glimpses of, I feel sorrow and joy and the
guilt of a survivor. With Kimberley in
my life I KNOW I went through the war and came out on the other side; wife,
children, and job, all intact and accounted for.
So here it goes: Kimberley is always writing down lists of
things she is thankful for, so here is my list of Kimberley’s joys and the
treasure that I have found in being with her.
1.
She gets up and does devotions for over an hour.
2.
No, seriously, she gets up EVERY MORNING and
does devotions for over an hour!
3.
She never nags. I can’t explain that, it never
happens. I’ve never felt nagged.
4.
She is incredibly respectful of me in front of
the kids.
5.
She is respectful of me in front of the kids and
others even though I don’t deserve it.
6.
Kimberly respects me in private, public,
socially, and at work, even when we’re in the middle of an idiotic fight.
7.
She spends hours sitting with me and gently
rubbing her hands over my back while we read and listen to music together in
the evenings.
8.
During this time a kid will inevitably poke
their messed head of hair around the corner and yell, “Mommy, I poop my pants!”
or, “Mommy, Lyla throw up on her bed and it stinky!” Kimberley works with me to
clean up any mess.
9.
I sleep very little but when I do I may as well
be dead, and Kimberley, who Is a lite sleeper will deal with most of the 2am
kid problems without trying to wake me or making me feel bad the next day.
10. I
interrupt people. It’s a really bad habit, worse than smoking, and Kimberley quietly
waits while I jibber jabber about whatever nonsense was in my head and then
quietly continues after I’ve wound down.
11. Kimberley
is amazing at taking a dollar and making it stretch out to the end of forever.
12. The
bed is always made. It is with great joy that I enter our bedroom to find that
the covers are clean, warm, and soft.
13. I
wake up with Kimberley’s arms wrapped around me.
14. If
I complain, it’s not at Kimberley. It is for more time with Kimberley. The
communication is strong; I want to be with her, I want more of her, she is the
safest place on earth. Whenever there is
gunfire and sirens outside the house, I’m not worried; Christ is with us and
Kimberley is with me.
15. Don’t
you think Kimberley is a sexy name? I do.
Kimberley, Kimberley, Kimberley…
16. Hair,
make-up, clothes, I don’t know how she does it but she always looks like fire
from the gods and I often find myself staring like an idiot. Yes, idiot. Wake up you fool! But I don’t
want to wake up, I want to stay here forever, with only you.
17. Other
women just aren’t getting in the door. They may as well be blind. Where is the
door? Only Kimberley knows, and she can let
herself in and take up residence whenever she pleases.
18. I
love making Kimberley laugh. I’m so thankful she likes my sense of humor because
it gives me great pleasure to see her throw her head back and enjoy the peace
of laughing.
19. In
an age of such sexual, unmitigated, dis-holy catastrophe, Kimberley is a very
modest dresser. Not Amish, stylish.
20. Eric
Clapton said it better, “Yellow Tigers crouched in jungles in her dark eyes.”
21. Not
much phases me, but I have to admit, if Kimberley is gone 15 minutes later than
she said she would be I get dry mouth and start internally freaking out that
she is dead or maimed or has been kidnapped by terrorists or all other manner of
hideous horrible. Then she breezes in
the door, laughs, and kisses away all the ugly manifestations of the monsters
of my imagination.
22. Lastly,
for this list, “My baby don’t mess around because she loves me so and this I know
for sure.” -Andre 3000-
I love you Kimberley and it is a logistical impossibility for
a me to encapsulate the essence of your radiance with a list of poorly stated, “22
reasons.”
You are the only woman that can break me with a flash of her
eyes and a tilt of her head. All other
woman are wax candles, dissolving in a river of imprecations before your insatiable
flame. I have only ever been with you; I
will only ever be with you. 16 years
have been too short to know you and a 1000 more will never do.
Eternity will have to suffice.
I love you, I love you, I love you.
