So, it’s a half an hour before your birthday, but I’ve gotta go ahead and wish a happy 42nd birthday to Jerry, my partner in crime! Here are 42 reasons I celebrate you:

1. I love your smile.
2. You’re such a good ‘dada’ to Miss Emmalee. She’s lucky to have such a man in her life.
3. I’ll always remember how you made her giggle as a baby.
4. I love watching you do tai-chi with Emma.
5. You’ve taught me the value of introvertedness — sometimes the best thing you can give someone you love is some alone time!
6. I think you’re kinda dreamy.
7. Our shared sleep-deprived nights because of a certain little baby who wouldn’t sleep.
8. Your kindness to others.
9. The fact that you’ll do most of the driving for us, especially in the wintertime.
10. Your passion for martial arts.
11. Your other passion for dill-flavored sunflower seeds.
12. I’ve loved watching you evolve as a writer.
13. And you WILL finish that book one day.
14. Our late-night show watching (from Downton Abbey to the Walking Dead!)
15. You’ll often buy me a Tim’s steeped tea to drink first thing in the morning.
16. I love how you embraced gardening with me! We plant a mean garden of green, we two.
17. Daddy-daughter jam time.
18. Your tolerance in listening to (most of) my rants.
19. Our hands fit perfectly together.
20. Your support for my career — in good times and in bad.
21. I also love your drive to pursue a new career, because I know you’re going to rock at it.
22. Thanks to you, I now know more low-German words than ever before.
23. Including “Shnodda Nas“
24. Your odd affection for wool socks, even in the summertime.
25. Our late-night conversations.
26. You keep me accountable, and aren’t afraid to call me out.
27. Your drive for knowledge, and how you’re so good at teaching yourself.
28. You have a crazy ability to make me giggle incessantly. Here’s one example.
29. Your Luddite tendencies.
30. How you can act like such an old man at times.
31. How you can look like someone 20 years younger at times.
32. There’s no one else who I could have had a baby with.
33. You were so awesome in my pregnancy days!
34. And I still love reading your perspective on Emma’s birth day.
35. I love that the holidays I look forward to the most are the usually the ones when it can just be us two.
36. But then again, we also make a great team of three. (3! It’s a magic number!)
37. As much as I complain about it, I sorta love hearing you sing aloud to 80′s rock songs (yes, even Supertramp).
38. Your intrinsic understanding and empathy — especially when times are hard.
39. You’re so musically talented. I love listening to you and Emma sing together. How many 5 year olds know the lyrics to ‘Hotel California’?
40. Our cafe times — sitting across from each other, reading and drinking coffee. (we need more of these)
41. I love your questioning and questing mind.
42. You’re the one person on this planet who I’ve loved the longest.

Happy birthday, my love!