Ralph often complains that I spend more time with my computer than I do with him (wrong!) so today I'd like to make this an open birthday card to my beloved husband -
So many years have passed and we've spent so many birthdays together that it is hard to remember a time when you weren't in my life and that we ever celebrated birthdays separately.
Each year that passes shows me more and more about you. You still surprise me and amaze me with your capacity to see the good in people and to approach all you meet with such respect annd integrity. You are a true 'mensch'. I am in awe of the dedication you bring to your work and it seems that every year you give more of yourself at work and you inspire more students. Teaching has brought you much joy and the pleasure you take in the accomplishments of your students is remarkable. I love how much teaching has brought to your life and you are truly a fantastic teacher.
The limitless patience you show your students is a quality that I appreciate with regard to the patience you show living with my mercurial moods. You are always there for me and have always allowed me to indulge my whims and fantasies in order to let me grow and develop. Some of your friends may believe you to be a grouch. This is also true, but is actually one of your genuinely endearing qualities. Your grouchiness is so legendary that even you can now laugh at it and actually, underneath all that surface grumpiness you are a true meditator with a genuine grasp of the spirtuality and wonder of life. You just don't make a song and dance of it; you quietly get on with living.
You are also my best friend and a good friend to others. You are so willing to see all dfifferent sides of arguments, to ask questions and to be fair. You always want to know more, to explore different facets of things and are not quick to judge,preferring to let people prove their worth, always looking for the good and inevitably, finding it.
Over the years i have seen you be a really great parent to our kids. You allow them enough freedom to live their own lives and make their own mistakes and yet, they both know that should they ever need anything, you will always be there. I also feel this for myself and it is a great gift of love.
All of this is really secondary to how much I love you and I love the relationship we have created and the excitement this still brings me. The other day I showed a photo of you to a colleague and their reaction was 'Wow, he's really handsome' and I guess you are - a handsome, well-balanced, generous, loving human being. It is a privilege to spend my life with you and to carry on learning from you and testing you and trying your patience. Each time, each year, you get better and better.
As you celebrate the passing of another year I often wonder what gods I pleased in order to be given such a life with you, good, bad, ups, downs, rich and poor, it is an ecstatic explosion of fabulousness.
I love you and love you and love you....
Oh and just for a little treat - a joke:
An 80 year old couple were having problems remembering things, so they decided to go to their doctor to get checked out to make sure nothing was wrong with them.
When they arrived at the doctor`s, they explained to the doctor about the problems they were having with their memory. After checking the couple out, the doctor tells them that they were physically okay but might want to start writing things down and make notes to help them remember things. The couple thanked the doctor and left.
Later that night while watching TV, the old man got up from his chair and his wife asks, "Where are you going?" He replies, "To the kitchen." She asks, "Will you get me a bowl of ice cream?" He replies, "Sure." She then asks him, "Don`t you think you should write it down so you can remember it?" He says, "No, I can remember that." She then says, "Well, I also would like some strawberries on top. You had better write that down cause I know you`ll forget that." He says, "I can remember that, you want a bowl of ice cream with strawberries." She replies, "Well, I also would like whip cream on top. I know you will forget that so you better write it down." With irritation in his voice, he says, "I don`t need to write that down, I can remember that." He then fumes into the kitchen.
After about 20 minutes he returns from the kitchen and hands her a plate of bacon and eggs. She stares at the plate for a moment and says, "You forgot my toast."
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