My Husband

Today marks the 14th anniversary of our wedding day. In honor thereof, I thought I'd dedicate this post to my wonderful husband, Todd.

I first met Todd on the porch of the ATO house at Birmingham-Southern College. He was drinking a beer and I was new, foreign, and fairly intimidated by the whole setting. However, he comfortably lured me into conversation and we ended up debating the difference between "sarcastic" and "ironic." You see, in Sweden, "ironic" is used as "sarcastic" is used in the US. As you can probably tell from this, he was an English major, and a darn good one at that. I had finally met my match as it related to obsessive studying and drive to excel in the academic world. The next day, Todd found me in the library. He was so sweet and gentleman-like. We continued "bumping into each other" in the library day after day. I loved his gentleness, his willingness to help me with my papers (and I needed it!), and his close relationships with his friends.

I wrote to my parents and indicated that I had found "The One." They especially liked the part about "he takes care of me." Which he did, and has continued to do throughout our marriage. He is always available to listen to my trials and tribulations, joys, and hopes. We dream together about the day when we'll all be together again in our little dream house with no geographical distance separating us from each other.

I admire Todd's unceasing dedication to his work and especially his students. He makes himself available to help them through his class in a way that is unprecedented in my experience. He truly cares about teaching them to think critically and be better citizens of the world. I wish I had studied under Dr. Green when I was in school!

Finally, I love Todd, the dad. He literally raised Rebecka on his own for several years when I was traveling all the time and otherwise preoccupied by work. And he did a fantastic job! He connects with Rebecka on a wonderful level and doesn't hesitate to take a break for a Harry Potter game on the PS2, "stuffed animal church," or a trip to the movie theater (Hannah Montana comes to mind...). Rebecka is a lucky girl!

Looking forward to many happy years ahead
and Paris in 2010!