Happy Birthday to the King of Free!

If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter, you know that I’m celebrating today because my Prince Charming – the King of Free – has a birthday today.  He turns 34, once again making him officially a year older than me (ok, maybe only 5 months but whatever).  And again I’m reminded how amazingly blessed I am to have such a person in my life.  Every year gets better and better.

Speaking of better, there are a lot of things the King is better at than I am.  And there are many reasons why I love him.  For instance:

• He is much calmer in situations of calamity.  I run around in circles like my hair is on fire.  He forms a plan and executes it.

• He’s more compassionate than I am.  He sees a need and meets it.  No strings attached, no expectations, no lists.  

• He defies lawyer jokes.  The stereotypes of attorneys who are money grubbing, cold, harsh, or only out for number one are shattered when it comes to my husband.  He selflessly donates countless hours of pro bono time for those in need.  He answers legal questions for people who should be and could be paying him (drives me nuts but again see the above note about compassion).  He gracefully endures questioning everywhere in fact – on weekends, at church, in the mall, even on Main Street in Disney World.

• He’s a dreamer.  When we started the whole quest to become debt free in April of 2008, I was on board but really didn’t think it was possible.  Now that we’ve paid off more than we owe, I can say he has a better capacity for dreaming than I do and the wherewithal to make it happen.  There’s no one I’d rather dream big with than my husband.

• He’s a fantastic parent.  He’s less given to in the minute emotion and more intentional about making every experience one for our girls to learn from.  He understands that power and and authority in a parent/child relationship is merely an illusion and the real ability to help mold our children comes from building a strong and trustworthy relationship rather than simply lording over them.