10 Facts About Me and My Better Half

One of my favorite feisty bloggers is sharing little known facts about her and her guy and she's invited her readers to join her. I was thrilled to have a blogging assignment as my brain has been in a fog and creativity has been lacking here due to a sweet little someone keeping me from getting adequate sleep. So here goes:

1) The moment he threw me into the pool (5 minutes after we first met, I might add) I knew Wingnut was the boy I would marry.

2) I say "boy" because we were just babies when we met; just 18 year old babies.

3) Dating long distance for 3 years was incredibly difficult. He broke my heart more than once while he was at the Academy, but I never gave up hope. He always came back around and in the end, he was caught.

4) He has a very bad tendency of making up outrageous stories (lies) just to see if I'll believe him. I have a very bad tendency of believing his outrageous stories (lies). The more outrageous the more likely I am to believe. Then he laughs and shakes his head in disbelief. I keep asking him if he wants me to believe him or to just think he's a big fat liar. There have been a few stories (lies) that I've fallen for and believed were true for years because he's forgotten to tell me he was just teasing. Those REALLY crack him up.

5) This June we'll have been married for 20 years and will have known each other for 24 years. That's more than half our lives! It really does seem just like yesterday he was throwing me into that swimming pool.

6) After 20 years, he still makes me laugh hysterically. I hope our children, as they grow up and leave home to start families of their own, remember the sound of our laughter together.

7) He gets what we fondly call, the "sleepy hypes". He often has trouble settling down at night to go to sleep and so he resorts to pestering and teasing me with his crazy stories. Apparently, misery (insomnia) loves company.

8) We were on a very strict budget for our wedding. We had only $2000 to spend, so we had a very small wedding with most everything homemade. My mother made my dress and my sister's Maid of Honor dress. Wingnut and his best man wore their Mess Dress uniforms, saving on tuxedo rentals. My lovely and talented sister-in-law made and decorated our wedding cake. A family friend, who was a professional photographer, took all the photos for just the cost of film. The three items we spent money on were the flowers, the venue (a retreat house with a beautiful garden), and a lovely catered buffet. It was a wonderful wedding and I wouldn't trade any of it for something more upscale.

9) Our honeymoon was a different story. His very generous parents gave us the money for our honeymoon and we had a fantastic time in Hawaii. We stayed at the military resort, Hale Koa, on Oahu and took advantage of their wonderful travel office to take trips to three other islands. Molokai was my favorite because it was almost deserted of tourists. The beaches were completely empty. It was like being on our own deserted island. Thankfully we had this honeymoon, because in 20 years of marriage we have not taken a trip together alone since. We just don't leave our kids over night with anyone, except when we are adding a new member to our family. Wingnut has to travel for work and so leaving his children just for pleasure is not something he would like to do. I have left the children with Wingnut only twice in our marriage for very short trips--once for my grandmother's 90th birthday and once again that same year to appear on a TV game show in New York. On both of those trips I had our nursing youngest child with me. Funny thing is, neither of us have ever felt the need to take a trip or even a retreat away from our children. Once they are grown and out on their own, I'm sure Wingnut and I will travel.

10) No matter the crazy, fringe plan I come up with, Wingnut jumps in behind it and supports it 100%. No immunizations? No problem, he's there at the pediatrician with me explaining our position. Get rid of the crib? Wonderful, he doesn't mind having our youngest between us kicking him in the head or groin throughout the night. Homeschooling? Great, he's printing out articles on the benefits of homeschooling and other articles on the problems with traditional school settings. He's been there supporting breastfeeding, natural childbirth, my short lived stint with cloth diapering, restricted diets, vitamin regiments, homeopathic remedies, etc. I think he's still a bit freaked about Lil' Lamb's water birth, but he was right there supporting me all the way through it, no argument. That's the kind of guy he is. He's pretty special.