Happy Valentine's Day

I am so thankful that I have had the same sweetheart for the last 21+ years.  I can hardly even believe that we have been together that long, because the time has just flown by.

Instead of making a list of the many things that I love about John, I thought I would just focus on one.  If I do this every year for the next, say, 50 years, I think I will have covered everything that I love about him (although maybe not!)

One of the things that makes me laugh the most about John is how he is constantly trying to make me laugh.  I'm not sure when this began, but of late, it has been in full force.

You know the commercials that come on the television, trying to sell 5 discs of "The 80's best Rock 'n Roll" music, all for the low price of $19.99?  And if you order within the next five minutes, they'll throw in an apple peeler?  Well, John loves those commercials, if for no other reason than that he can take a stroll down memory lane.  In fact, he will pop up off the couch, grab his always-convenient air guitar, and sing along with each 5 second preview of a song.  The amazing thing?  He knows the words to every single song.  The rest of us just sit back and watch, completely amazed and laughing.

Too, when we play Rock Band together, the only instrument that works for him is the microphone, so he's inevitably the lead singer.  The rest of us can hardly keep our eyes on the TV when he starts up singing "Crazy Train"--we are laughing too dang hard.

John also likes to speak for some of our animals.  Of course, he doesn't just speak for them, but he speaks for them in foreign accents.  With our newest pup, Chief, John decided to forget the foreign accent, and speak like Doug from the movie "Up".  So, anytime Chief comes running up to me, I hear (in Doug's voice), "I love you, Larisa.  I am so happy to see you."

Well, he took that to a new height the other day when he sent me a text with a picture of Chief.

Underneath the picture, it read, "I L-O-V-E Y-O-U L-A-R-I-S-A.  W-H-E-N A-R-E Y-O-U C-O-M-I-N-G H-O-M-E?"

While at work, knowing that he couldn't take a picture of any of our animals, he sent this photo to me (which causes John to laugh every time he sees it on TV):

Of course, the times we laugh the most are when John laughs at himself.  There are times that he gets to thinking about something, and he literally can't tell us about it because he's laughing so hard.  Mark especially gets a kick out of that.

This morning, on Valentine's Day, he brought more of a smile to my face than laughter when he painted a huge, pink heart in the snow outside our bathroom window.

I'm so thankful for John and how he keeps our home a happy, wonderful, full-of-laughter home.  I love you, my honey!  Happy Valentine's Day!