Celebrating Jenn

This Sunday my wife, Jenn, is having one of those milestone birthdays.  I won’t say which one, but suffice it to say, she will be of age to buy dry ice and shotgun shells.  Some may ask, “Wasn’t she already old enough to buy dry ice and shotgun shells?’  To which I reply, “I doubt it, because as long as I’ve known her she’s bought exactly none of either of those two things.  And if you could, why wouldn’t you?”

I’ve been thankfully thinking of Jenn for the past couple of weeks.  It feels like life gets so busy that it’s easy to let the next thing, big or small consume me, but Jenn helps me remember to stop and look around once in a while.  She has a knack for calling “time-out” at just the right moment.  Some of our best time-outs are our late night midweek movies.  We’ve done a lot of those lately.  Usually when we go to the late show on a Tuesday, they’re showing the movie just for us which is even more fun.  Life with Jenn is like that.  Everything is just more fun.

She bought magnetic letters for the front of our fridge just because they are fun to play with.  A year later, I’m the one that can’t leave them alone.

One day she suggested we go to a movie and because we couldn’t decide what to see, we decided to drive to the theater and see whatever movie was playing next.  It was kind of fun to walk up to the counter, ask for two tickets to the next movie.  The downside is the next movie was “Heaven is for Real” 

She once suggested we get on a train, pick a person and then follow them off when they get off.  This sounds creepy and stalkery, but we didn’t follow them any farther than just off the train.  We then explored the area where we got off the train.  We would then proceed to the next bus or train stop, get on, pick a new person and repeat the process.  We ended up at an estate sale, and we spent about 45 minutes on a bus with a bus driver who was passionate about his job.  He told us all about the Utah Transit Authority, and his career as a bus driver.

Once after some discussion of past regrets, she suggested we write down all our regrets on paper, and give them a Viking burial on a burning barge.  With this in mind we set off to the craft store to buy, popsicle sticks, glue and other craft supplies.  I spent maybe an hour on mine making something that seemed like it might float.  Jenn, in the true spirit of Noah, spent several evenings building, decorating and perfecting hers.  At last the fateful day arrived.  We went to the store to buy one of those long barbeque lighters and some accelerant.  We arrived at a pond in a local park.  We placed our list of regrets in our boats and set them asail.  Mine stayed upright but hovered very low in the water.  It probably didn’t have much time.  Jenn set her boat in the water and the mast instantly became the keel.  I think she forgot to carry the 1 when calculating the buoyancy coefficient.  Either way, they were both our barges seemed on borrowed time.  Jenn took the lighter and faster than I can tell you what happened, she dropped our only lighter in the water – I knew we should have bought the 2-pack.  With two tiny bubbles, the lighter sank to the murky deep.  Not to be frustrated, we picked up rocks and tried for 10 minutes to sink the darned things.  Even after a few direct hits they just floated beneath the surface like two stubbornly vindictive submarines.

When I lost my job a year ago, Jenn is the one that suggested and encouraged me to start a business.  Then she quit her own job and joined me.  When it came time to ensure that we could continue to buy ramen – Top Ramen, we splurge -  and I decided to get a part-time job, she suggested I get something I wanted to do, no matter how off-the-wall it was.  I ended up teaching snowboarding.  And I learned a lot about myself and about teaching and about people.  I really got to use my top talents too.  Jenn helps me be the best me I am capable of being.  She encourages me to dream big.

I love her child-like wonder about and approach to life.  I love that she never wants to grow up.  I love how she sees the best in others.  I love that she encourages me in my belief that everything happens for a reason.  I love the adventure we’re on together.  Happy birthday Jenn.  Let’s go buy some dry ice, some shotgun shells and go to a movie….wait, that sounded like a terror plot.  Let’s just go to a movie.  I love you!