Day 19 – 30 Days of Thankful

Today I am thankful for my best friend.

When I talk about her on  Ruling The Nest I refer to her as Boobs… it’s been one of her nicknames for years and she loves it that I still use it.

Boobs and I have been friends for close to 18 years now.  We have had much discussion about how we became friends because honestly, one day we did not know each other and than the very next day we were inseparable.  It is weird to us that we have not been friends for longer because it just feels like we have known each other for all our lives.  We are soul-mates!

Boobs is my person.  There is no other way to put it.  I have a wonderful husband who is a great friend and a great partner and who I love with all my heart.  I have wonderful children who are my world and who I would do anything for. My husband and my children are my everything, but Boobs, she completes my circle.  There is this joke between me, Boobs and The Hubby about how I married the male version of my best friend, because they are oddly and freakishly alike.  She is the only other person on this planet next to my husband who knows all there is to know about me.  I don’t have a lot of people who I let get really close to me, I have trust issues.  I have been hurt by people I thought would always have my back.  I have hurt people too and lost trust in myself to be a good friend for a long time.  Boobs helped me regain some of that trust.  She reminded me what being a good friend means and how it is suppose to feel to trust someone.  I honestly don’t think that I would have the relationship I have with my husband if it was not for the relationship I have with Boobs.  She has always been the kind of friend who embraces me for me and loves all of me, even with all my faults.  Not only does this speak volumes for the kind of person that Boobs is… but it speaks to the kind of friend she has reminded me I am meant to be.  She is, without doubt one of only two people I know that I can trust, and that I know will be there for me 100% of the time.  She has provide herself and her love for me and support of me time and time again.

There is something amazing about knowing you have a person who you can turn to, who you can lean on, who you can support, who you can cry to, who you can laugh with, who you can vent to, who you can pray with, who you can sing with, who you can bare your soul to, who you can show the most vulnerable sides of yourself to, who you can complain about your spouse to, who you can listen to for hours, who you can go months without seeing, but not a day without talking to, who you can just look at and they know what you are thinking, who you can trust your children with, who you can trust your spouse with,  who will wipe away tears, who will hold your hair back for you when you are sick, who will hold your hand on your darkest days, who stand next to you on your greatest days, who will allow you to be, who will hold you accountable, who will understand when you say you want to run away, who you know will be right next to you every step of the way.

I am a better person because I have the best friend that I have.  Boobs makes me a better person.  We live 1000 miles apart now and yet I never feel like she is not right there next to me!!

Day 10 – 30 Days of Thankful

Today I am thankful for my husband.

The Hubby and I have been together for 15 years, 9 of which we have been legally married.  We have known each other since we were 17 year old hellions, running a muck through the streets of our hometown!  I love my husband today, like I loved him 9 years ago when I married him, and like I loved him 22 years ago, when I first told him I loved him.  Our journey has not always been easy.  Our marriage has not always been blissful and rewarding, but what marriage is always happy and perfect? The one thing I know for 100 % certainty is my marriage is exactly what I need it to by and my husband is exactly who I need him to be.

My husband is not my best friend, or even my soul mate, he know he fills much bigger roles in my life, because he is my husband, my partner, he is my other half.  Don’t get me wrong, we have a friendship and I trust him and respect him in the same regard as my best friend, they are the only two people who know all of me.   There are times when The Hubby is the only friend I have to do anything with and he humors me and goes shoe shopping or a stroll through the Coach store, because he knows that every so often I need that from him.   For me, I don’t need my husband to be my best friend.  I need him to be the person I know will have my back each and every day, who will protect me and fight for me.  I need him to be my business partner when it comes to running our lives, my coaching partner when it comes to our kids and my emotional partner when it come to the tough parts of life,  but he does not have to be my therapist, or my fashion consultant or my girlfriend.  Those tasks, those are for my best friend, she does a great job and allows for me to have a completely different kind of relationship with my husband, because he does not have to be my best friend.

The Hubby is my rock really.  He is the cooler head, the far more sensible member of our union and a man worthy of unconditional, passionate love.  I mean it when I say I adore him.  He is not the perfect man, he is flawed, just like the rest of us.  He is a real though.  He shows his emotions, he lives life in his way.  He disappoints me, he inspires me, he stresses me, he thrills me and he loves me.  I love that he calls his mother every single day (yes really) and that he always answers when I call him baby.  He is funny, so funny and witty and smart.  He does not always know when to say no, but that is okay, I know how to say no for the both of us!  He challenges me to be a better person and understands when I challenge him to be better.  He is a great partner.  I know that he will support me and encourage me and pretend we are on the same page just so we can provide a united front.

I am okay with the fact that we are opposites in many ways. The list is endless really, but we balance each other… as we should.  Yes he snores and sleeps through anything.  Yes he might smoke and drink and sit on the couch like Al Bundy sometimes.  Yes sometimes he might push every button I have, just to get a rise out of me.  Yes he might say mean things to me in the heat of the moment.  Yes sometimes he might forget to call or be late coming home.  Yes sometimes he might even be a downright jerk, but it does not matter, because… I am a freaking hot mess most of the time, with my crazy and my depression and my OCD and my anxiety and my quirks and pet peeves… I am a lot to deal with and yet he handles me, every single day, with charm and with and with every ounce of his heart.  He may not be my best friend, but he is the love of my life and that is a far better title if you ask me.

Every day that I get to be his wife, his partner, his other half is a day I am thankful for.