AN OPEN LETTER TO THE LOVE OF MY LIFE...

Dear Nancy,

I have sat down to write this letter several times and always come away realizing that I have not told you how I really feel in a very long time. I am also left feeling as though you are the only writer in the family. I hope you will forgive me for rambling a bit but here is goes...

FIRST THINGS FIRST!

You need to see these things in print so you can always look at them any time you forget... :-)

YOU are the love of my life. No one could ever replace you. I could just end there and would have said everything... (don't worry, I won't)

I have never loved anyone as much, or even in the same way as I love you.

It hurts when we are apart. (really, physical pain!!!)

I cannot imagine my life without you. (or at least when I do I go back to that physical pain thing again)

You are BEAUTIFUL! I know that is not what it is all about but, I am more attracted to you on the outside because of who you are on the inside.

You are an amazing mother.

You are an amazing wife!

You are my best friend.

You are beyond amazing in the LOVER department. (stop blushing)

When I think of you I smile!

Kissing you makes me feel "a bit unsettled"... (come on, that's funny)

The worst thing I can imagine it the without you.

The greatest thing I can imagine is being with you!

You have patiently waited for me to wake up and see what is standing in front of my face. Now that I have good luck getting rid of me!

You get me.

You are a kind person.

My favorite sound is you laughing...

I love to see you smile...

I plan on spending the rest of my life showing you how a woman should be treated!

You are a princess.

I love to please you!

If I had to start over 100 times, I would choose you EVERY time!

You are the one who stuck with me through it all. You started early in our marriage showing that you would stick with me! Thank you

No one else could ever be what you have been to me...

Every little piece and corner of my heart are yours. (I am not holding any of them back)

You make me feel safe

You make me feel like a real man...

I dream of you. (Not in French though)

You AMAZE me!

I know this is just a short list of the things that come to mind when I think of you. I cannot
hope to be able to express to you in words all the reasons I LOVE YOU more than anything. When I think about you I feel; warm all over, at peace, happy, nervous, comfortable, safe, lucky, amorous, content, and did I mention lucky?

I want to use every cheesy line from every song and from every movie but I will just use one...

Nancy, you make me want to be a better man.

I was looking for a definition of love and found a place that talks about several types of love. I got a kick out of it...

check these out...

Infatuation- Love feelings toward an love object that are largely based upon fantasy and idealization (instead of experience). Often when partners get to know each other, infatuation diminishes.

I have been infatuated with you. I don't mind saying that, however I can truly say that with the experiences we have shared we are WAY past that!!!!!

Romantic Love- An abiding love for a partner with whom you feel passion, attraction, caring and respect.

WOW, that just about covers it!!!

Eros- a passionate love usually involving sexual feelings for a love interest.

CHECK!!!

Compassionate love- Feelings of warmth towards a friend with whom you love to spend time.

You are my best friend, and there is no one else with whom I would rather spend time!

Puppy love- A childish, innocent temporary crush on someone that you don't know well.

temporary, don't know well.... never mind... that one is not us...

Soulmate Love- This type of love is described as a love that has survived multiple life times.

I don't know how I feel about reincarnation... but if it is real... I have no doubt we have spent several lifetimes getting here!!!

I never realized how deeply or in how many ways I love you until now. I am excited about spending the rest of eternity learning how to love you better. You are my angel and I Cherish every moment I have had and every moment we have yet to share... You are responsable for everything that is good in my life!!! I look forward to getting to know my new bride for the next 80 years!!! Listen to the songs as they tell you better than I ever could... and know that you are my first, last, and only TRUE love! Thank you for saying yes and I will never let you regret making that choice. Love is a choice and I choose YOU!

Ben

"So easy even a caveman could do it"

This is a picture Nancy took through the window of our car at home depot the other day.  TELL ME THAT IS NOT THE GUY OFF THOSE GEICKO COMMERCIALS...   

(Yeah Gary, I know, I can hear that trap door opening right now.)

Who is Nelson Mandela...

I teach a Seminary class in the morning for high school students.  At the very beginning of the year I gave them this quote from Nelson Mandela.  They read and loved the quote and then a student asked me a question that floored me.  "Who is Nelson Mandela?"  I looked to the other students to answer but the all stared blankly at me.  Our lesson that day turned from a discussion of Genesis to a history lesson.  We can never forget the past, we can never forget who gave us our humanity or who helped along the moral evolution of our race...

BB

"Our deepens fear is not that we are inadequate.

Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

It is our light not our darkness, that most frightens us.

We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous?

Actually, who are you not to be?

You are a child of God.

Your playing small doesn't serve the world.

There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure about you.

We are all meant to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.

It's not just in some of us, it's in everyone.

And as we let our own light shine,

we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.

As we are liberated from our own fear,

our presence automatically liberates others."

~Nelson Mandela

Inaugural Speech  1994

A little gift from a Big Worm...

This is a quote I was introduced to when "Big Worm" introduced me to DC Talk.  This is found at the start of the song "what if I stumble" It is at the same time very true and a bit convicting.  

"The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians, who acknoledge Jesus with their lips and walk out the door, and deny Him by their lifestyle.  That is what an unbelieving world simply find unbelievable." 

-Brennan Manning

TO LIVE BY...

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.  The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by the dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievements, and at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those timid souls who know neither victory or defeat..."

-Theodore Roosevelt