I know it’s the job of every man to say I got the best wife. The difference is I don’t have the best wife ever. I have the perfect wife for me.

She has asked me many times over the years, and my children have asked me why did you chose mom? The answer is always the same and will never change. I trust her. For someone like me, that’s the most important thing.

When I first started talking to my wife, I was actually involved in a relationship and was just reconnecting with a childhood friend via MySpace. Little did I know my relationship was a sinking ship as she was already cheating on me as I was saying hi to an old friend. Well, I thought it would be the biggest smear in my exes face if I went to a place she really wanted to go and Bethany was living near there. So, I scheduled a flight and week to meet up in Tennessee, where she was living. I made a big deal about going to The Grand Ole Opry. That was my exes’ dream place, so I went out there to take pictures and have fun.

Honestly, I went out to see Bethany as a hateful response to another, and little did I know I would be leaving questioning my own choices in life. It wasn’t the week I spent with her it was the day I left that changed my tune. So she dropped me off at the airport, and She headed home 2 hours away. My flight got canceled, so I stayed the night. She heard this and turned around and came back for me. That night, while watching Chopped in the hotel, I fell in love with a girl that had my back and would go out of the way for me.

It was quick and fast, and 6 months later, we were married. If you had met young us, you might have sworn she was going to leave me before we hit 5 years if she lasted that long with me. I mean, I look back at early marriage us and wonder how she put up with me. I’m convinced I was trying to push her away. I think it was me trying to prove that all women hated me, and I didn’t deserve to be happy. She stuck around, though, and just when I realized she was the real thing, I messed up and almost lost her over a stupid picture. To this day, she reminds me of the idiot I was that day, and I understand her feelings on it. Even if it wasn’t my intent, it was still disrespectful. If it weren’t for Zoey coming along right about, then she might have left me, but here came Zoey.

Now, she became a Mom. I can’t remember a happier look on her face in all the years I’ve been with her than the first time she held that little Bean in her arms. We were young and parents of something that needed us for the rest of time. Not long after that, number 2 came, and we had a little family. Around this time between 1 and 2, we were getting out of the military and planning life as civilians.

We moved to Kansas City, and I watched as she found ways to be a mom of two highly educated children. They went places all the time and were well traveled children. This time of our lives, I watched as this amazing woman took a couple of dollars and made 2 little girls overly happy. I remember playing the what bill to play game and having to live off tips for food for months.

When we moved to Winnemucca and she got her boy finally. I watched as she got to hold and raise the little man she wanted so badly to raise. I pick on my kids that he is her favorite because she always wanted a boy, and he is her love. It’s not really true as she has no favorites, but that boy changed her she became that mom she always wanted to be. The loving and gentle arms to hold the little ones as they hide from Bad Cop (me).

She now has a fourth and final baby. It’s funny because this is the last one we get to watch do all the first until we have grandkids, and it’s bittersweet. Watching the last first step is going to break us both, but at the same time we did it, we made 4 little walkers, and now it’s others’ turn to do it.

I have spent the last almost 16 years hanging out with my best friend. The person I love to annoy and the person I want to live all my life with. Yes, she is annoying and bothers my gaming time with stupid questions about chemicals in the water. Yes, she is a pain in the butt always asking me to do something else. Yes, she hounds me about the same thing until I finally do it. But that’s who I want to be with. I would be annoyed if she didn’t annoy me. Just like she would be upset if I wasn’t annoying her.

She knows this, but I had a choice to come back to life or not. How you may ask, well, I had a moment where I could give up. I know the moment, too. It was like an option in front of me to give up or fight. I remember saying to myself I couldn’t leave her alone in life. I know her she won’t find another man she will raise my son without a man. So I came back just for her. It might sound like a story, but ask her, That’s the first thing I told her when I came back from my coma.

I wouldn’t be here without her and I’m pretty sure I’d have tasted death a different way without her coming into my life in the first place. I owe her my everything as she has kept her promise to me to be faithful and honest to me. So Happy Birthday, my beautiful lady. I love you more than I love the Chiefs. I hope we give you the most wonderful birthday and if not I promise we tried.