The lovely and talented wife...

I don't do it often enough, but I'd like to take a minute this morning and publicly brag on my wife.

If you know me at all, you've probably heard me refer to her as the lovely and talented wife or the lovely and talented Annaleise. After a while it's easy for words to lose their meaning, so this is what those words mean to me.

I love my wife's smile. Despite how much I might talk about being driven by my desire to make a difference in this world, I can tell you one of the biggest joys I have in life is just seeing her smile.

I love her sense of humor and the way she encourages mine. She'll tell you that she does not encourage it. Don't listen to her. She's lying. Anytime she laughs or smiles at something I say or do, I want to do it more. (see the paragraph above)

I love her gentle spirit... she is one of the most merciful people I know. This quality probably bugs her from time to time because I've seen it attract weird people, but then again, I'm weird too.

I love being married to a woman who runs our family so well. She manages our budget with the greatest of precision and ease. She is organized, efficient, disciplined in all of the domestic arts... my favorite of which is her cooking.

She is a talented Marriage and Family Therapist. Well, at least I assume she is. Confidentiality laws have prevented me from ever seeing her in practice. I love the laser-like focus she's maintained the last 10 to 15 years of her life as she's taken the necessary steps to finally become licensed in a field she's wanted to work in most of her life. As someone who flip flops almost daily on what I want to do with my life, her single-minded determination and passion for what she wants to do is a daily inspiration.

She cooks wonderfully (and blogs about it), she even likes to clean, she introduced me to the Swiffer Wet Jet and now I like to clean too, she sows (this is a new development), she's crafty, she organizes, she plans, she doesn't get mad at me when I do the laundry even though I mess something up almost every time, she keeps me grounded, she tells jokes and says funny things at the right time, she changes people's lives, she always smells nice, she has beautiful green eyes, she lets me have too many hats and jackets, she has too many shoes and I love every pair, she inspires me with her smile, she is a good friend to a lot of people, she makes time to read and even started a book a club, she cares about people, she puts up with my child-like wonder (her words, not mine), she makes a grocery list and we go grocery shopping together each week because I once told her I wanted us to be that couple, she buys me cool socks for no other reason than they were on sale, she loves to shop, she dreams up vacations for us to take and then makes sure we take them, she talks to her mom on a regular basis, she's cute and trendy, she stays in touch with old friends while making new ones, she is a renaissance woman, a Proverbs 31 wife, a hotty, a great friend, a blessing and an encouragement to me.

I may not tell her enough, but I am so thankful to be married to a woman that truly defines (with both grace and style) what it means to be lovely and talented. She is the one and only, THE lovely and talented Annaleise... and I love her.