Luck has everything to do with it.

Sometimes, I think I take my husband for granted. With the stress that we've had since we got married, I think it was too easy to lose sight of why I married him in the first place. He has mentioned (more than once) that if we didn't love each other as much as we do, and if we weren't as strong as we are, we probably wouldn't have made it even this far (almost 4 years!) With the stress of tornadoes, losing jobs multiple times, moving, financial troubles, and infertility struggles, it's a wonder that we're not crazy.

I went out with my friend Erin to a Halloween party. We were chatting with a mutual friend, Crystal, about her upcoming divorce. And out of nowhere, Erin looked at me and then told Crystal, "Lyndsey is so lucky. She has the best husband ever. Not only is he good looking, but he's smart, sweet, and incredibly funny, and and all around good guy. I wish she could clone him so I could have one. I would pay good money for it!" I laughed, thanked her, and chalked it up to her recent break-up...She came over afterwards and Casey and I spent the day laughing with her and trying to get her mind off of the jerk she dumped.

I've been giving it more thought, though. I really am a lucky woman. I'm sure everyone who reads this blog knows about Casey's and my past (the "how we met" story, if you will) so I won't go down that particular lane in my memory. But I do think that if things hadn't happen just the way they did...I don't think we would have made it here. When we found each other again, we only dated for a year and a half...engaged for 27 days...then we were husband and wife. I wouldn't have changed a thing, really.

Casey is the funniest guy I know. NO one makes me laugh the way he does. I love the way he bats his eyelashes when he's trying to be sweet. I love when he does his "happy wiggles" (I think he got that from Gracie...when she's excited, her whole body wiggles.) He loves telling jokes, and then counting the seconds it takes for me to get the punchline. I love when he says "You make me happy in the face."

He's incredibly thoughtful. I try not to drink a lot of coffee (I know, it's reeeeally bad for you.) so I only drink it when I have to be at work waaay early, and I have to be there all day. Every early day for the past several weeks, he gets out of bed while I'm in the shower, makes me coffee, and crawls back into bed. (I think I'm going to switch to the red raspberry leaf tea...I can feel less guilty about that one.) He leaves little love notes around the house. I remember one time, after a particularly bad week, he left 10 loves notes all around the house...I remember scouring the house looking for the last one. He put them in places that he knew I would go. (the computer, the fridge, the potty, next to the front door, my car.) He's thoughtful and sweet. When he does the laundry, he folds my scrubs in "outfits" so I just have to grab a pile, instead of having to sort through all the pants to find a top. He is a FANTASTIC cook, and is always thinking of new recipes and giving me ideas about things I could do.

There was a time two years ago that I was dancing on the edge of mental breakdown (literally...I got sent home from work because I couldn't stop crying.) I knew that I needed to see my friend Kira, (more importantly, her husband Ben.) I called Casey at work, and asked him to come home so he could drive me to Dothan to see them. Even though I have major issues with the Church, and Casey couldn't understand why I needed to see them so badly (because of those issues), he didn't question it at all. He came home from work early and took me to see my friend. When we left, Casey said that the only thing that hurt him was that Ben was able to provide me with comfort (and stop my incessant crying) in a way that Casey would never be able to. I told him, "Maybe that's why Kira and Ben are in our lives. They are my ties to that part of my past." Casey prides himself on being there for me, and being able to make me laugh through my tears. With the struggles that we've had, he is able to keep a positive outlook on it. He considers himself more of a realist, but it seems that when I'm being negative and sad, he always just knows it will get better.

He makes me feel good about myself. I have (like most women, I'm sure) struggled with weight, self esteem, my looks, etc... He loves me anyway. He makes me feel thin and pretty. I can't tell a joke to save my life...but he makes me feel funny. There have been times that I have tried to make a new meal, and made it so horribly inedible that you could hardly look at it without throwing up...but he would eat it anyway. (Remember the chicken enchilada incident, Megan?) He encourages me when I think I'm not good enough. He finds more in me when I think I have nothing more to give. When, during the past year, I was so depressed that I couldn't get out of bed to even take a shower, he would give me a reason. Any reason. He is my rock. I owe my life, and my sanity, to him.

He wants to be a father more than anything. Almost as much as I want to be a mother. My struggles with infertility haven't been just my struggles... He will be a wonderful father, I know it. He will teach our children that working hard is the only way to work. He will teach our sons how to love and respect the women in their lives. He will teach our daughters what to expect from their potential husbands, and not to accept anything less.

I am a lucky woman, indeed. I don't think there is a woman on the planet that is as lucky as I am.