February 4 is a very special day in our family. A birthday of great importance is celebrated. The Woman Of The Day is my wonderful wife, Jessica.
A few years ago, on her big day, I expressed it alphabetically. So, with love, here is a reprise of that sweetheart of a spelling lesson.
J is for Joyful. This person finds the best in every situation. I look at the ceiling and see all the little brown water spots. She notices all the places up there that still look perfect and pristine…despite four teenagers-worth of showers and flushes.
E is for Enthusiasm. My dad once made me compete in the Optimist’s Club Oratorical Contest. He chose, as my subject, Enthusiasm. He’d been reading a little pamphlet from Norman Vincent Peale. My dad was a big Power of Positive Thinking guy, sometimes. There were days when he was positive that the world was going to heck in a hand-basket. Would it be better to go there in a foot-basket? Given a choice, I’d travel in a picnic basket. Anyway, our birthday girl gets energized over something as simple as a game of Scrabble. Best of all, her zeal for life is most often directed toward others…happiness for their good fortune. If she’d been in the Optimist’s Contest with enthusiasm as her topic, all she’d have to do is stand up front and the audience would’ve understood.
S is for Sporty. This is a girl who likes to keep moving. Speaking as someone who views the word “exercise” as a bit of a profanity…someone who, if he gets the urge to work-out, lies down until the idea passes…I have to say, the Lady of Honor’s love of running, in particular, and fitness training, in general, is almost annoying. When the kids were little, the minute I’d get home from work, she’d be out the door for a race through the neighborhood. Of course, upon reflection, that behavior may just be showing her good judgment.
S is for Saintly. She is one of those people who do lots of big and little things for lots of folks that nobody ever knows about. But, the most obvious reason she deserves sainthood: look who she’s been putting up with for all these years.
I is for Intelligent. Our not-so-mysterious honoree, is smart in a couple of different ways. Yes, she’s got that darn book-learnin’. But, more importantly, she is filled with common sense and a great human radar system. She can tell which direction to go in almost every person-to-person situation. She’s the Rand McNally of the human heart.
C is for Crazy. I mean this in the best possible sense. Filled with laughter. Overflowing in good humor. Able to roll with everything a house filled with four teenagers, a tortoise, two silly, spoiled-rotten pooches and an increasingly curmudgeonly pseudo-adult male can throw at her. In her case, crazy leads to calm…with plenty of fun along the way.
A is for Amazing. According to the dictionary, amazing means “causing great surprise or sudden wonder.” Well, she certainly fills that bill. She makes everyday a pleasant surprise and I will always wonder what she was thinking when she said “I do!”
Put them all together and they spell JESSICA…The Birthday Girl!
She does share this February 4 birth date with other high achievers like Charles Lindbergh and Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Rosa Parks. Also, Alice Cooper and Conrad Bain, of Diff’rent Strokes. (I guess using an apostrophe instead of the letter “e” is hipper.) I would bet, if they knew Jessica, they’d feel honored to have been born on her day.
Let me be very clear, those seven words I used above only scratch the surface when it comes to Jessica. You could throw in teacher, friend, daughter, sister, mother, and, best of all, from my perspective, wife. Frankly, all the possible adjectives and nouns would give Noah Webster a hernia.
Sure, it’s Jessica’s birthday, but I’m the lucky one, everyday.
