Nine Ways That Andy is Awesome That You Might Not Have Known

Nine years ago today was a Saturday, and a sunny, beautiful, warm one at that. It was also the day that I donned a white dress and veil and walked down the aisle to say “I do” to a handsome tuxedoed man.

Becoming Andy’s bride was the best decision I’ve ever made. You are probably already aware of some of the ways that Andy is awesome—his toleration of my love for Britney, the way he puts up with me and my sister’s antics. So in honor of our nine years of wedded (mostly) bliss, here are nine little-known ways that Andy is awesome.

1) So do you want to know the exact moment I knew Andy was a keeper? It happened in the middle of the night, after we had been dating a while (yes, I was staying at his place, but we’ve been married for nine years now, so the statute of limitations for judging us as sinners is over, okay?). My monthly visitor showed up unexpectedly, and Andy insisted on driving me to Jewel for girl stuff because he didn’t want me out by myself in the middle of the night. That’s when I knew I had a good catch. And also the first of many times Andy would have to deal with my broken girly bits.

2) Speaking of broken girly bits, Andy was never, not once, resentful or judgmental during our Great Reproductive Saga of ’03–’07, when he totally could have since it was my body’s fault we had such a hard time getting living children to join our family. He also didn’t complain or flinch once during all the times he had to inject me in the pregnant stomach with Heparin when we were trying to save Sam and Emilie, or inject me with shot after shot of fertility drugs during in vitro, or inject me with painful intramuscular shots of progesterone during our pregnancy with Henry and Eleanor. He’s great at finding the upper right quadrant of a buttcheek, and knows more pregnancy vocabulary words than most dads have to learn.

3) He is super duper creative. One weekend several years ago he decided to start painting, locked himself in our guest room for a day, and emerged with a photo-like painting of a scene from a California trip. He’s also a great writer, and despite his shyness about having folks read his writing, he just started a blog this month: iammakingblog.blogspot.com.

4) He does some funny impressions of celebrities. He did the voices for a Champaign movie theater’s radio commercials—I heard them during college, and found out later that it was him. I roll my eyes and act exasperated when he launches into Sean Connery Voice or Marlon Brando Voice, but secretly I think it’s pretty good.

5) Since having Henry and Eleanor, he lets me sleep in every weekend, and changes pretty much every diaper on Saturdays and Sundays. Makes you swoon, doesn’t it?

6) I told him “I will do half of the housework, never more” and he still made me his wife. He cooks and cleans and does his own laundry and changes the sheets because he knows I HATE making the bed and always cleans out the cat’s litterbox.

7) He has never made fun of me for my fear of the dark, even when I call out for him in a panic when our power goes out, or make him walk me to the bathroom in the middle of the night after watching a scary movie. Come to think of it, he doesn’t make fun of me for my fear of thunderstorms, either.

8) He has this funny ability to make up words to songs if he doesn’t know the lyrics. While in Costa Rica, he had me laughing at his made-up Spanish ballads like the ones we’d hear on taxi cabs’ radios. There are some showtunes that I hope he never learns the lyrics to, because the Andy versions are way more entertaining.

9) He always does the right thing. He’s reported extra bonuses on his paycheck, and slept in our guestroom with a stray cat we took in overnight to help calm its mewing. He is one of the kindest people I’ve ever met and I am one lucky gal.