Better late than never...

So Eric turned 30 in March, and, because I cannot have him jealous of his friend Brian, whose birthday occasioned a posting of fifty wonderful things about him by his wife, AND because I love him:), I'm writing the following....

10 Things you probably never knew about Eric:

1. When he was little, he had a sparkly glove like Micheal Jackson.
2. At one point in his life, his favorite color was hot pink.
3. He has a black belt in Tae Kwon Do.
4. He will actually gag if forced to eat an olive.
5. He's never seen the Grand Canyon.
6. The stamps on his current passport: Amsterdam, London, Geneva, Paris and Fortaleza. And he's been to China but they didn't give him a stamp...slackers.
7. When he was a teenager, an extra tooth grew out of the roof of his mouth and he had to have it pulled.
8. He has a white spot in his hair that he once grew out until it was long enough to tuck behind his ear (and no, he doesn't have the sixth sense).
9. He can write the Hebrew alphabet.
10. He's been to space camp.

10 Things Eric can do really well:

1. Remain incredibly calm and logical in the heat of an argument.
2. Bake whole-wheat bread that isn't all dense and crumbly.
3. Fix absolutely anything on a bicycle.
4. Sing our kids to sleep.
5. Balance the checkbook.
6. Draw and paint with water colors.
7. Rollerblade.
8. Explain complex mathematical concepts to someone who doesn't understand math well.
9. Propose marriage.
10. Make frighteningly realistic animal noises.

10 Things Eric would rather be doing right now:

1. Mountain biking.
2. Running barefoot.
3. Reading National Geographic.
4. Hiking on the Olympic peninsula.
5. Traveling Australia.
6. Visiting the people he knew on his mission in Brazil.
7. Wrestling with the dog.
8. Taking the kids for a bike ride.
9. Getting a milkshake at Cookout.
10. Picking blackberries.

10 Things Eric says all the time:

1. To the boys, when he wants something done: "In five, four, three, two...."
2. When you've hurt yourself: "I'm sorry...do you want me to lick it?"
3. When trying to talk you out of something: "Okay, your utility function looks like this..."
4. When I apologize for being grumpy: "It's okay, I'm used to it."
5. When he wants to embarrass me in front of friends: "Alright, let's make like shepherds and get the flock out of here."
6. When he comes home from a long day at school, with hopeful note in his voice: "Is there dinner tonight?"
7. To Mustang: "Dog, if you lived in the wild, you'd be dead."
8. When he wants to spend a lot of money on a bike part: "So, you know how my [fill in body part of choice] bleeds/hurts/loses all feeling every time I go out for a bike ride?"
9. To the boys when they've done something amusing: "Why are you such an Eric/ Brigham?"
10. When we're both about to fall asleep, borrowed from the boys during the days when they were learning to talk: "I dove you."

10 Things I've learned from Eric in the eight years I've known him:

1. Northwest beaches are incredible, even if it's never warm enough to wear your bathing suit.
2. When you get a new bike IMMEDIATELY remove the reflectors and valve caps from the wheels, lest you look like a dorky novice.
3. Dogs are good.
4. Real mountains have snow on them all year round.
5. How to clean a bathroom.
6. How to fry an egg over easy without breaking the yoke.
7. That shoes are unnecessary and, in fact, evil.
8. That kids can help out around the house.
9. Never to try to beat him at anything that involves the use of my legs, whether it be running, biking, skiing or swimming.
10. That the experience of falling in love and growing together through raising a family with him is more challenging, rewarding and fun than I could have ever imagined.

In all seriousness, we were talking the other day about what a huge leap of faith marriage was- how we barely even knew each other. After two kids, a dog, three homes and three-and-a-half degrees, I can say that the vast majority of the surprises have been good ones. I never would have guessed what it would feel like to hear him sing a baby to sleep, or to watch him run repeatedly up and down the street next to a four-year-old learning to ride a bike. I never could have known that he was such a faithful journal writer, or so good at making grilled cheese sandwiches, or that he could get the top grade in the class on a major test and never say anything until I asked him about it three weeks later. Eric's done a lot in thirty years, and won't even try to predict what he'll do in the next thirty, but I can't wait to be beside him the whole way. Happy belated birthday sweetheart. I dove you:).