The Phenomenon That Is My Husband

Are you familiar with the movie, Phenomenon? It's a great show; go check it out if you haven't seen it.

In this movie, Lace's, (Kira Sedgwick) hobby is making and selling willow (I think that's the type of branches she uses) furniture. Not a lot of people want her furniture, so George (John Travolta) faithfully buys up everything she makes. He ends up looking a little silly when she discovers his house full to bursting with all of her creations. But he does it because he wants her to feel good, and he wants to understand the things that are important to her.
Later on this act becomes a metaphor for the way people should treat their loved ones. I get a kick out of the scene where Robert Duvall's character is cussing out a negligent husband. His advice for saving this guy's pitiful marriage is, "Just buy Lisa's chairs, dang-it!"

With that foundation laid, I will take a moment to brag about my virtually perfect husband. He is a champion at this philosophy. And believe me, it works! There are so many examples I could share with you all, but here are 3 of my favorites.

1- Every year Ben provides what is, for us, a fairly expensive excursion to my homeland in Az. The ranch holds no meaning for him, but this trip is a given every year, because it's important to me. He never complains about the cost and happily comes whenever work allows.

2- As a single, college attendee, music was pretty much the sum total of my life. I was a vocal major, and training very seriously for a musical career. That all changed about the time I married Ben. In order to ease my transition out of the music world, unbeknown to me, my not-as-musical husband took voice lessons for a full semester, so that we could sing duets together. He has since, soaked up everything he could about music theory and technique and application, so that I can have meaningful discussions with him about the music I love.

3- But all of this is fresh in my mind tonight because this morning he did it again. In the last 6 or 7 months I discovered my latent love of running. I've worked at it as much as possible, with Ben's full support and encouragement, and I've even run a few 5k's this summer. But today surrounded by people I love, (thanks Dave, Jaime, Mom, and boys) I ran "the Classic" 5k in Layton, and right by my side was my Ben.

Sporting our trophy shirts

He's rarin' to go with me again, too! He's even willing to push the boys. (Which is good, because much to his chagrin, he could have easily kicked my butt today! I need something to slow him down.) To see him now, you'd never guess that he's never been able to see a point to running before. It's just another thing he's willing to jump into, head first, so that he can "buy my chairs, dang-it!"