Happy Father's Day

In a couple weeks Robert and I will celebrate 8 years of being together. I love remembering that first summer - it seemed like the perfect temperature all the time, the days and nights would drag on forever, offering us seemingly endless hours to talk about everything imaginable.

One particularly vivid conversation in my memory was one we had about a month after we started officially "dating". I had just met Robert's dad's family for the first time and we were in my driveway, talking in the car as was typical when he dropped me off. We had been talking for a while when Robert told me that he had had a dream about our children. I was taken aback for a minute, because at this point we had not even said "I love you" to each other. He went on to tell me that in the dream he was sitting in a chair and 4 children came running up around him - the oldest was a little boy, then two little girls, and the baby was a boy as well. He said that they all had light red hair, fair skin (no surprises there), and they were all smiling and laughing with him. I can honestly say this was one of those moments when I knew he was the one for me - because I could picture those children too, and even though we had only dated for a month, I knew the love we both felt for them and for each other.

When we started dating we were almost nineteen, and I thank my nineteen year old self every day for being smart enough to see what I had in Robert. A few more indications that he was a good man: he was always open and affectionate with his mom and sister and was never embarrassed to say I Love You in front of his friends or anything (for that matter he says I Love You to his friends too). He is also the most giving person I have ever met. If one of our friends or family needs help it doesn't matter what else he has going on, he will find a way to help them out and he never complains about it. And I love watching him with kids. He is one of the few adults I know who has managed to hold on to some of his imagination, and he can interact with children on a level that few adults know how. Sometimes he does things with Jack that I think scientifically Jack should not be able to process yet, and he can get responses out of Jack that I never would have imagined. He is a constant reminder that our achievement is only limited by our belief in ourself.

This time last year, we had just found out we were pregnant. It was one of the most exciting and scariest times of my life, and as I tiptoed through the next nine months he was the anchor that kept me from getting swept away into the ocean of fear I felt at the time. He was a better pregnancy partner than I could have asked for, always understanding what I needed before I even had to ask, and offering me strength in all the times I started to falter. I never would have made it through the natural delivery without his encouragement and his belief in me. And now when I see him with our son, sharing all of his love and his knowledge, I know without any doubt that Jack will be a great man. He will be a great man because he will learn from his father, and I feel so blessed to witness it all and share the love of this family.

Happy Father's Day Robert. We love you!