An Excellent Contractor

Photo by our friend and photographer, Rhyanne Ketron.

Hey, chicas.

Leslie, here.

(Obvi. Who else would be here writing this blog?)

This has been one crazy week that, to be honest, may not lend itself to a terribly large amount of blogging, but that's just how the Funfetti cupcake crumbles sometimes. Work is busy, which is always a good thing. And we're gearing up to welcome little Ruby into our household on Saturday afternoon. (Eeeeep!)

Anywhoodle, thanks to all (978!!) of you who have submitted a survey. This Type-A personality appreciates that very much! Your diligence and follow-through will be handsomely rewarded.

(Just as soon as I win the lotto.)

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Gaw. I was thinking today about the fact that S and I have been married for almost one year. A YEAR. It feels like we've been married for about five minutes. (Well, some days it feels like it has been a bit longer, but you get the picture. Ha!)

Next month, September 17, we'll be celebrating 365 days of being wed. Man and wifey. And I love it.

Someone asked me a couple of days ago if I had "learned" anything. I'm assuming she was referring to  lessons I'd learned since getting "hitched". (LOTS of quotation marks today, apparently. That's what Tuesdays are for, no?)

And, per usual for a writer, it got me to thinking...

1. I've learned that sometimes it's better to wave the white flag and just admit you were wrong. The argument won't stop until someone does and, since we're both bull-headed, we have to take turns.

2. I've learned that sometimes people don't start snoring until after you're well into a year of marriage. Surprise! (I'm sorry honey. I just had to.)

3. I've learned that, although she is really fabulous, Ina Garten's recipes are never something that can be "whipped up" after a long day of work in hopes of surprising one's husband with one's mad cooking skillz.

And really, who keeps organic white truffle oil in her pantry anyway?

4. I've learned that #3 usually leads to an emergency call to Pizza Hut. Program the number into the phone and memorize it just to be thorough.

5. I've learned that he will make you SO MAD.

6. But he will also make you SO HAPPY.

7. I've learned that after a couple of babysitting experiences together, we should probably stick to dogs for a few more years. (We love our niece and nephews, but MY WORD. Stamina, those children have!)

8. I've learned that the "I'll have the cleanest house on the block" mentality (that I had going into our co-habitation) was for the birds. Clean as you go. Do the best ya can. But don't kill yourself because there's spaghetti sauce stuck in the grout. It's not going anywhere.

But the fifteen minutes of time you could have spent laughing on the couch together is more precious that any sparkly grout on the plant.

9. I've learned that love really does only grow. Your heart - I'm positive that it enlarges.

10. I've learned that the best abdominal exercises come from laughter. The sort of laughter that occurs  after one of you accidentally uses "lip stain" instead of "chap stick", because the tubes looked the same.  (Shame on you, Burt and your Beeswax.)

(You should have seen the look on my face that night we crawled into bed and I looked over at my manly-man of a husband, only to realize he was wearing my Burt's plumping lip stain. A lovely peachy-pink shade. He'd grabbed the wrong tube in the medicine cabinet. It took me a solid 15 minutes of cry-laughing before I could tell him what he'd done.)

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More than anything though, I've learned that his imperfections are the things that make him the most perfect, (in my eyes, anyway.)

-The little scar above his left eyebrow, the result of crashing through a coffee table as a kiddo. The way it peeks out, just so, from underneath his baseball cap.

(All men should bear such sexy reminders of the past.)

-The way he makes the coffee just a little too strong. (I've grown to love the extra caffeine buzz.)

-The way the always uses the wrong cleaning solution on the granite countertop. (I've learned to love it. I call it the "Stephen Streak".)

-The way he tracks in dirt and grass from outside. It reminds me of my daddy and the farm. Two very good things that make me not mind the mopping one bit.

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I love our cooking messes. I love our Saturday pancake-a-thons.  I love our boating adventures. Our loud and rowdy SEC football-watching...my, how we get carried away.

So, when my friend asked, "What have you learned so far?",  I told her this:

"I've learned that God is an excellent contractor."

She looked at me quizzically.

I continued.

"He's an excellent contractor. Just when you think your heart is so full it can't possibly grow another inch, he expands it. Builds on. Makes room for more."

Be blessed, lovelies-