happy 30th, my love

Today, Aron celebrates a big milestone that I did not want to go unnoticed amidst Maggie's 1st birthday. I've put together a list of 30 things I love about him, in no particular order.

1. He is amazingly patient and loving with Maggie
2. He is amazingly patient and loving with me
3. He encourages me in spiritual pursuits and his love for Christ is evident in his daily life.
4. He listens to me. I can think I don’t have a lot to talk about, then look up and see that an hour or more has passed!
5. His dream job would be playing music for life; he is a very gifted musician
6. He is a gifted speaker and communicator; often, he’s able to word things in such a way that often help me better understand
7. He loves to travel
8. He allows me to have downtime from Maggie whenever I need it
9. He is totally involved in Maggie’s life, and especially enjoys doing her nighttime routine when he gets home from work.
10. He helps clean up the kitchen
11. He can cook well
12. He is on time
13. He makes me laugh every single day
14. He will run errands and shop with me without complaint
15. He helps with household chores (especially my least favorite, mopping the floors!)
16. He is working in a job that is currently not his passion and yet does so, without complaint
17. He enjoys going on walks with us and being outdoors as a family
18. He loves to read
19. He daily encourages me to pursue my passions (writing, other creative outlets)
20. He keeps in touch with his family
21. He loves to give
22. He makes all sorts of fun animal sounds and silly noises for Maggie (why can’t girls make boy noises, like good car sounds or crashing sounds?! Maybe this is just me…)
23. He is flexible, moving to a few different places in the last several years; he’s often told me that he could live in a closet, he doesn’t need much.
24. He loves to delve into intellectually stimulating conversations
25. He cannot dress Maggie in matching outfits to save his life (he might resent this one :)
26. He is a life-long learner, hoping to further his education and obtain his Ph.D one day
27. He listens to me read fiction novels to him and LOVES it (this is the only way he will read fiction; he prefers theological/philosophical books when he reads alone)
28. He is genuinely interested in the details of my day
29. He doesn’t mind if I eat off of his plate
30. Maggie must think he is something special because her first official word was “dada.”