The Beard

While Mila and Sophia have been gone I decided to experiment with a few things without having to worry if it was going to be difficult for Mila to handle.  The day after she left, I shaved my head. I mean I Bic'd it.  I didn't like it. I had to wear a hat for several days until it grew back enough for me to be satisfied and take the hat off in public again.  It just didn't work for me.

Then I decided that I wanted to grow a beard.  Trying to grow stubble out while kissing my wife has been very uncomfortable for her so I thought that this would be the perfect time to just go all out.  So far I'm liking it.  It's probably still in the "don't kiss me honey, 'cause it hurts" stage but slowly it is getting to be a little more comfortable to handle.

I took a picture of myself with the beard for good measure.  What do you think?

However difficult it has been for me to be alone right now, I find that it has actually been a good thing right at this moment, basically because I have been hit with crazy amounts of work that has kept me at the office or working from home until all hours of the night and I'm glad that I don't have to put Mila and Sophia through that.  Still, you can't help but feel that hole in your life.

Since changing over to Blogger, I decided to take a gander at some of my friends' blogs and I noticed an entry from Cindy and Jordan's blog that struck a strong chord with me. You can find it here.  Check it out, it's really good.  I especially liked the quote from Gordon B. Hinckley that says: "True love is not so much a matter of romance as it is a matter of anxious concern for the well-being of one's companion."  Think about that.  If you have ever wondered what has happened to your relationship since the intensity from when you were dating has faded, remember that it's not about the romance, though romance is a nice side-effect.  It is so much more than that.  And if you don't get it, you really have to try and figure it out.

I've always known that I love Mila, even when I didn't know it. Since the first day I met her, I have always cared about her and her feelings.  When I was a boy, I would occasionally hear people ask my dad who his best friend was.  He always replied, "My wife is my best friend."  I would always think to myself, "Well, duh...she's your wife. You spend every day with her.  Of course she's your best friend."  I didn't understand then that what my dad said is true in every sense of the word.  Mila is not my best friend because she is my wife.  She is my wife because she is my best friend.  I absolutely love spending every day with her.  There is no one I would rather spend my time with than her.

Before we started dating, we had a discussion about love. This conversation at the time was strictly platonic of course. She told me how sacred she felt it was to tell someone that you love them.  You can't just throw it out in any relationship because you have strong feelings for each other. Later, after we had been dating for a while, when she told me that she loved me, I knew how important it was for her to say that.  I felt undeserving, yet honored. I also felt pretty amazing. Today, my love for her has grown beyond anything I thought love could be.  That love has brought an amazing, beautiful and intelligent little girl into the world and I am proud and amazed to call myself a husband and a father.

I don't want to brag, but I think I have the most incredible daughter ever. OK, maybe I'm bragging a little. She is only one year old and I can't wait to see the kind of person she grows up to be and I hope that I will be there to see her through it all.  I hear that her two top teeth have really started to grow in and that she knows how to get on and off the couch all by herself and I think, "I am missing out on these important stages of her life!"  I can't even fathom the amount of stages she will go through in her life, so I must be patient while I wait to see her again and see how much she has grown in, I know....the month and a half since I last saw her.

I just love my girls so much.  Can't wait to be with them again.

By the way, we have created new pages for the blog here and here.  They aren't done yet, so be patient and we'll have them done soon! And hopefully we will have more to come as well.