Happy Birthday Rob!

Today is October 13th, Rob's birthday. Eliza woke up this morning throwing up so I don't think it will be too exciting of a day, unfortunately. Eliza is a little disappointed because she really wanted to take him to Chuck E. Cheese. He did come home at lunch time and we gave him his present, but tonight will probably be low key. I did want to make a special tribute to him on this day though and let him know how much I love him. He is an amazing father and sometimes I take him for granted. I feel very lucky to have a husband who is strong in the gospel, treats me so kindly, and loves his children so endearingly. I wrote a little email to him today about his strong qualities and stories to go along with them. (It was to help him with a project in class.) But I would like to include it because I think it describes even more reasons why I love him.
Here it is...
Your strong qualities are:

1. Perseverance

An example of this is when asking me to marry you. It all started when asking me out. You continued to ask me out after I had said I was busy the first couple of times. After I had one of the most fun times I’d had in my dating history, I knew I would go out with you again. I let you know though that I didn’t want anything too serious. I also let you know that I wasn’t interested in any kissing. But this didn’t stop you, you continued to hold me close and nuzzled my nose. Finally you got the kiss of a lifetime. After many months of dating, you felt inclined to ask me to marry you. This was the ultimate test, when I would not give you an answer until a month later.

Rob, thanks for persevering. I love being married to you!

2. Hard work ethic

When we were first married, we went to rake up leaves for my Grandpa Brunetti. We finished the front yard and it looked amazing. It was definitely the best I had ever seen it. It was a cold day and my grandfather had said that we didn’t have to do the back. I was fine with that. But you insisted that we finish it. After working on the back yard for only a few minutes, the rake broke. You then took time to go buy a rake and then come back and continue working on the back yard. It was starting to get dark, and I thought it looked great. There were a few leaves still left here and there where the piles had been. With excitement in your voice, you said, “Let’s hurry and finish up this last little bit.” You scurried about and had the leaves raked into a pile in no time. I walked slowly over with the bag and you quickly scooped up the remaining leaves. Soon the backyard floodlights came on. I noticed that my grandparents were watching from their bedroom window. I’m not sure what else you did after that, but I remember that my Grandpa was very pleased with the yard and it was the best it had looked that I had ever seen. My grandpa would have been just fine with a quick rake job, but you went above and beyond, until it was done right. My grandpa was very grateful for your hard work and I often wish I had been more in the spirit of things.

3. Cheerful

This is exhibited every night when you come home. You are always a cheerful person around us. Sometimes it is easy to be cheerful and sometimes it is not so easy. I see you before you walk in the door and there are days that I can see the stress on your face, your eyes furrowed and forehead wrinkling. But as soon as you open the door, your face lights up and you make it a point to be cheerful around the kids and me. You make us feel like we are the greatest things on this earth. It takes effort for a person to always be this happy, but I feel like you do this and I am grateful that you are a cheerful person.

4. Optimist

There are a million stories I could tell about you being optimistic because it is just instilled in you, but the one that comes to mind is you and the train in D.C. (it was as if you willed the train to always pull up just as you were arriving.)
Specifically was the time when my sister Sarah was visiting. We really needed the car so that we could go to all the D.C. sites. You were running a little late and Sarah kept saying, “You are going to miss the train.” You would reply, “No I won’t” and would continue on with your fast pace. You wouldn’t even let that enter your mind. By the time we left the apartment, I was pretty sure that you were not going to make it since we only had one minute left. You continued to believe that you would make it. You watched all the lights and directed me when I should turn or go straight. We pulled up just as the train was arriving. You grabbed your thousand pound bag and ran to the train. And yes you did make it!