my hero...my husband.

To my handsome husband,

In august this year, it will be 27 years since my life changed for the better.

It all started when I accompanied a friend to watch her play volleyball.

While watching the game i could not take my eyes off a guy with a really lovely smile and a really cute butt too!

That guy was you. You were having so much fun and i was impressed by your skills and the way you got along with and encouraged your teammates.

Little did i know, but my friend was giving you a lift home .

All the way to your house we could not stop talking and then you invited us in for a coffee.

You wowed us with your culinary skills and made us brewed coffee with whipped cream and grand marnier!

You were so easygoing, and funny ,but yet you had this wordly cultured maturity about you and you blew my mind with how smart you were..i had never met someone who had built a computer before...

Upon leaving you leaned in the window of the car and asked if i was going to come to volleyball next week. I said i would and we left.

My friend let out a scream after we pulled out of the driveway...: Ahh omg! he never talks to girls...he so likes you!!!

After the game the next week we went out for dinner and my friend felt like a third wheel.

I drove you home and after a couple of drinks i ended up staying in your spare room and nothing happened..but i could not stop thinking about you all night.

I ended up joining the volleyball team and for about 3 weeks we had dinner a couple of times. I think we were both a little hesistant due to the ten year age gap, and then one night we kissed and we were smitten.

We had been dating for about 3 months when you left for a month to go to india and nepal on a motorbike trek.

I stayed and housesat for the month.

I loved your house and its old world charm. It was so in tune with the style that i loved.

The only problem was the dining table had an engine on it , chairs were scattered randomly around the house,in one of the bedrooms you could not see the floor through the nuts and bolts all over it .It was more like a garage than i home.

So having only a couple of hrs of employment a week, i had plenty of time on my hands..so i cleaned up the house for you.

I literally sat on the floor and sorted all the bits into bags and jars, cleaned the entire place from top to bottom, and put the chairs around the table where they belonged.

When you got to the airport, we could not keep our hands off of each other .and your reaction to the house was priceless..."omg its so clean! it looks like a house should now..It really needed a womans touch!

Two months later on the first day of the year I moved in...

We would go into the city and stay out all night...eating , playing pinball machines and pool , going to the movies, hotels, and come back and sleep all day, or we would stay home and play chess,listen to jazz and drink port. You told me that the day i beat you at chess is the day that you would propose.

I am guessing that you wanted an equal..someone on the same wavelength..who had the same values, and principles but that could make you think and challenge you... i did beat you..once! and a few months later you prosposed on the bridge over the yarra river after taking me out for italian and seeing the hobbit and then organised a hotel for the night.

Then you made me put my ring in my pocket until you asked my dad for his blessing. and "he said go ahead make my bloody day!'..I also knew your dad would be happy, as the first time i met him he asked when were you going to put a ring on my finger!

I felt so safe and comfortable around you..like you were my protector and when i told you something i hadnt told anyone else..You did not leave me and you did not judge me, instead you said i need to work to gain confidence and learn to value myself,.i was delivering pizzas and xrays a couple of days a week and selling a few cosmetics from brochures at that time.

I had had a few jobs over the years,..in supermarkets ,shops, and a few others.. Then you came up with the idea of buying a one tonne van and i could pay you a lease for it and i could get a job as a courier as i had had the experience of deliveries.

You went ahead and brought the van..i got a job delivering flowers . I would sometimes do 81 hour weeks but i absolutely loved it. i was gaining my confidence back.

You took me on adventures, and holidays, you taught me how to make soup, how to ride on the back of your motorbike and i taught you how to drive a car.

We danced around the house, to the violent femmes and sixties songs, we hiked up mountains and rode our bikes.

Then on the 6th of june 1999 we became husband and wife.

You saved up for a year and a half and suprised me with a two month honeymoon! Because you have travelled to other countries and i hadnt and you wanted me to experience that before we had kids.

We rode mopeds around the greek islands, climbed the eiffel tower in france,sat on the roof of a double decker bus in london,sipped reisling on a boat cruising down the rhine in germany,hiked the mountains of nepal, and nearly got taken out by a bus while riding a motorbike in bangkok.

When i told you i was pregnant you were so happy, but a little scared..you were worried about money so you put yourself out there and moved from your job of 13 years to a better paying one that would make you feel more secure now that you had a family to provide for.

I am so proud of you and the work that you do. Making cancer detection equipment is a big responsibity and i am in awe of your work ethic .You are such an admired and valued team member , and you have proved your worth for the last 20 years.

As a father, well you are the best.. You are such an inspiraton to our son and daughter.You are so engaged with them, they have your sense of humor and sarcasm, your playfulness,(like when you kick each others bums in the supermarket..it makes me so embarrased but at the same time i love it) and we love doing the quiz in the newspaper with you when out to breakfast of having dinner at night.They have grown into such wonderful adults ..we did good didnt we!

I really want to thank you for not just being the sexy, smart funny husband that you are (who is like a fine wine that gets better with age.!) but for being there for me over the years.

I have had so many health issues, operatons, hospital stays, and bad thoughts with my bouts of depresson..and now with my fibromyalgia ,neurological disorder and other health issues, and you have stuck by my side through all of it.

The amount of times spent in waiting rooms with me, or sitting by my bedside, or driving in to see my every lunchtme,and doing the quiz with me for 6 weeks when i had pancreatits, and driving me to hospitals and doctors appointments..suprising me with a wheelchair..i mean.i could go on and on...

But you do, and always with that gorgeous smile and i appreciate it..all of it ..the fact that you work hard to put a roof over our heads and food in our bellies,and take us to exotic places and cook dinner when i cant (even after you have been working all day)..and all the hard work that you have done with the house renovations and maintance..you are so skilled at bloody everything !

I am sorry that i am not the same wife that i used to be..i do feel like a burden sometimes . I just wish that we could dance , go on hikes and ride bikes like we used to.

But i will continue to strive to be the best wife that is physically possible and i will keep suprising you in little ways when i can.

You have always supported me and the kids, encouraging us in all of endeavours and are always there to listen when we have tales of woe and happiness.

You are just incredible ken and i wish that i could be like you in more ways than one, i love you more than life itself.

Thankyou for being the best husband ,and father to our children that a girl could ever ask for.

You are my hero xxxxx