2012-366 Day 158 – Jessica

This is probably an extremely overdue post, but probably an appropriate day to write it. As I have (intentionally) kept the majority of these posts about me (I don’t want talk about anyone here who doesn’t want to be discussed in a (semi) public forum and even when I do, I try to be generic and use first names only in the interests of their privacy), you have seen Jess’ name in passing several times. Today, however, I’m going to shine a bit of light on the most important person in my life, and she has to like it because, you know, she really can’t go anywhere.

Should you have wandered to this blog and not actually know us in person, as well as not read the About section of this blog (in which case, welcome), you may not know that Jess is my wife (as well as the other person of the onlytwopeople in the domain name). We’ve been married for over seven years now (where does the time go?) and are still learning more about each other everyday.

A major reason for this blog post happening today is that this morning I was privileged to attend a University awards ceremony because Jessica was nominated for the highest award in the land (er, University), the President’s Award. While she did not win (that honor went to a person in a similar position whose main advantage on Jess was 37 years of service to the University), she was one of only three people nominated and did win a Merit Award (of which there were about a dozen winners in the University). The description given of her from the stage was particularly impressive for someone who has only worked full-time at the school for 5 or 6 years, and of particular mention was the fact that she received over 20 letters of support from faculty, staff, and students (an unusually large number, it seemed most people received 3-5). She is a great liaison between the faculty and students and it is certain that there are many students who owe their graduate degrees to her.

All that is well and good to the school, but not something I benefit from, so we’ll move on. (I feel like I can’t put a smiley in a blog post, but I’ll just tell you it’s there.) I am particularly fortunate to be married to this wonderful woman, because we compliment each other so well and she takes such exquisite care of me. (We’ll be busting out some big words here just to demonstrate how much I care and how much she deserves the very best.) We often say that Jess is my social planner and my heart (well, to the second part we actually say that I’m dead inside, but, being my compliment, that would mean that Jess is my heart and makes me alive), and both of those items are especially true. If you have seen me in the past seven years outside of church, sports, or work, you can bet that Jess had a hand in it. And where I occasionally have to temper Jess’ feelings and remind her that the world’s opinions are largely irrelevant; she also reminds me to feel and calls me to account when my natural bent towards non-involvement would be to my detriment.

As to taking care of me, I can hardly imagine a more diligent and loving caretaker. My thresholds for mess and disarray far exceed hers, so she is often taking care of chores before I even notice they need done (I am trying to get better at this, I promise). She is an exquisite cook and baker whose experiments rarely miss the bulls-eye and whose staples are ever excelling. In fact, here’s a top ten list of Jess creations for you (if you get the chance, have her make them for you, though not all at once):

1. Pizza Soup (yes, it’s soup that tastes like pizza but minus all the bready carbs)
2. Enchiladas (made in the, what I’m told is, more traditional layered style like a lasagna)
3. Meatloaf (between her and my father, I’m not sure what people’s aversion is to meatloaf, I’ve never had a bad one)
4. Chocolate Sheet Cake (a unique one made in a cookie sheet)
5. Fudge (to be fair, this one has been passed from my grandmother, to my father, to her, but it’s still awesome)
6. Butter Pasta and Garlic (simple, but great)
7. Chicken (yes, this is general, but she’s always experimenting with it and coming up with great stuff, from pesto to mustard)
8. Mt Dew Apple Turnovers (Yum)
9. Stromboli (There’s not much she can’t do with pastry dough)
10. Popcorn (yes, popcorn, stove popped and expertly seasoned)

And I am absolutely certain I am leaving at least two favorite things off there because I can’t think of them right now.

One last area to mention is her sense of humor. I very often get things from her in my email that make me laugh out loud, like the picture below. She puts up with my lame jokes and laughs at my good ones, and it is our compatible sense of humor and personalities which lead us to title the website “OnlyTwoPeople,” as we know we’re the only two people who could put up with each other as well as we do.

By the way, Go Kings Go!

Okay, I should probably wrap this up before her head pops. The Lord has blessed me with an amazing woman and a wonderful helpmate. I’m glad the school (particularly her area) recognized her for this, and I’m grateful that I’m the one who gets to benefit. Hopefully I love her half as well as she loves me, though she deserves so much more.

You know what, before I go, since this is a post about Jess, I’ll leave us with some appropriate pictures.

I love you Jess!

Weight: 229 Loss: 11 lbs – Running Yearly Mileage: 175.5 miles
Fitocracy Level: 21 ID: disciplev1