the man sitting beside me on the couch with a beer and the remote...

He is my husband.

He just turned 34.

He has a perfect nose.

He likes to teach me things, especially about cooking and leading an organized, peaceable life.

He always takes me seriously. When I have strange and irrational feelings, instead of just "being a guy" about it and waiting for me to get over it, he tries to understand.

He quietly listens to me, and never interrupts.

He tells me what I need to hear, not what I want to hear.

He loves just to see my facial expressions, when I am surprised or laughing or concentrating.

He has the best blue eyes ever.

He is wise.

He thinks I am really, really beautiful.

He is patient with all of my craziness. By patient, I mean that he never interrupts, yells, or says anything mean, or starts a fight. (That's all my department.)

He always wants to help me, even when I'm mean.

He is willing to do things with me that only I want to do, like watch 9 hours of Lord of the Rings, or listen to Beatrix Potter stories read out loud, by me. He really likes to hear me read stories, actually, but he isn't always in the mood, so then if he listens to a story, I know he is being really unselfish.

He thinks the story of the Lord of the Rings is nothing more than a really long walk. This is his one glaring flaw.

He loves to bring me surprises, presents and flowers.

He is quiet, which teaches me to listen better.

He really, really wants our marriage to be good.

He is happy and sweet.

He is really strong.

He knows a lot of things that I don't.

He is very smart.

He loves me very, very much.

This is what I am thinking about today. Also, I have a quiche in the oven and two lovely loaves of bread that just came out. Actually, Steve just ate one. :)

(Since he is sitting beside me, I am forced to correct the above and say that he did not eat the whole loaf. I ate two pieces.)

Just after I married him, I got to introduce him to one of my former professors, who had taken my class to study music history in Germany, and also, as it turns out, used to do marriage counseling. She said to Steve, "Marriage is hard, isn't it? You could be Cary Grant and God himself, and it would still be hard!" Funny that she said that, because that sort of sums out how I think of Steve.