My Knight In Longhorns Apparel

"I told my friend about your husband coming to pick you up

during the snow storm and we agreed that he is a great guy."

Christine doesn't know it yet, but the fact that these words have been floating in my head since she said them last night were a gift from God.

This has been a hard year for Troy and me. We've been disappointed in not being able to follow through with the foster care/adoption process. We've struggled with our own individual issues and didn't agree more than we agreed about many day to day things.

I had forgotten how it was to live by myself without my best friend ever with me. How I had to rely on myself for almost everything. How I didn't have Troy.

Troy listens to me ramble on about whatever is on my mind. His ears suffered when I made silly "Chinese" sounds to the tune of the Olympic anthem every time it was played during the August Olympics. He makes a clean sweep of the house every night picking up what I have left behind in my ever-present ADD mode to move on to something else before I'm finished with the last thing. He carries the dirty laundry down to the basement and the clean laundry up to the bedroom. (I think he could make this two flights of stairs journey in his sleep.) Even though Christmas lights are his last priority, he climbs up on top of the house to hang them so that I'm happy. If dishes pile in the sink, Troy loads the dishwasher. If it snows, Troy shovels the driveway and the sidewalk. He builds fires in the fireplace to make our few nights at home more cozy and romantic. He understands my aversion to cooking lunch after a full morning of church on Sunday morning and takes me out for lunch each and every time. He never gripes about the money I spend. (Although he would like me to use cash rather than the debit card for my frequent trips to Starbucks. Something about writing down $3.59 into the check book register.) He takes amazing care of our/his cat, Pinkie. He never gripes when I haven't finished ANOTHER project that I've spent way too much money starting. He celebrates my successes. He understands my weaknesses.

And he doesn't complain when he has to come rescue me on a snowy night after my little car couldn't make the slippery trip home.

No wonder my family calls him Saint Troy.

I have been very guilty of focusing on the disappointing, difficult times in our relatively young marriage. Thank you, God for using Christine to remind me of the wonderful man who has become my best friend, my caretaker, and my prince charming all wrapped up in his favorite ever-present, burnt orange, Texas Longhorn apparel.