♫ Birthday boy! ♫

Today my boytoy husband Felix turned 40. 

I didn't get him a card, buy him a gift or throw him a party per his request.  I will, however, make today's blog post about him.  I think that's fair, don't you?

I met Felix sixteen years ago in a galaxy far, far away (aka...our twenties).  I was a struggling single mom of a four year old and had pretty much given up on the opposite sex.  I decided to place a personal ad since I had two options for dating...1) Home Depot (my job) or 2) nothing.  I told the guy what I was looking for.  He wrote me one and put it in the paper.  I crossed my fingers.

Fast forward two weeks.  Fee leaves me a message.  Very soft spoken.  He said he was twenty-four.  I was almost twenty-nine.  Five years younger?  He was a kid!  But, I had a teddy bear named Felix and Hurricane Felix was bopping around the Atlantic.  I took that as a sign and called him late on a Saturday night.

We talked.  And talked and talked and talked.  We were up most of the night.  We talked every night for hours after that.  We decided to meet up at Home Depot after I got out of work.  My theory was if he liked me at my worst, the best would blow him away.

In a nutshell?  We fell in love three weeks after we met.  We offically lived together ten months later (even though each time he came over more and more of his stuff stayed!).  He proposed October 20, 1996.  We were married October 31, 1997.

I have never met anyone like Felix.  He was the youngest of anyone I had dated...but the most grown up of all of them, go figure.  And he was is adorable.  I still love his blue eyes and the way he crinkles his nose at me.

I almost lost him to diverticulitis, he almost lost me to depression.  We have been through the long battle and eventual death of my mom to cancer, our little girl's open heart surgery and a miscarriage.  We went through unemployment and some shitty jobs.  Money's been tight.  It hasn't been an easy road.  We've struggled.

But...we have a lot of fun together.  We don't do date nights, we do breakfast.  We still hold hands.  We hug everyday.  We always say I love you...and mean it.  We have dumb jokes only we get.  We laugh constantly.  I get him.  He gets me.  He is truly my best friend and soulmate.  I have no idea what I would do without him in my life.

So Fee...happy 40th birthday.  I hope we have many more birthdays to uncelebrate together.  You came to me at a time in my life when I needed you, and it didn't scare you away.  I love you more then you could ever know.  Thank you for being the wonderful husband and father that you are!  ♥ I love you!! ♥