My Beloved's Birthday

My Beloved jokes about meeting me when I was a teenager. It's true; I was two weeks shy of turning 20. He was already 20. This was back in May of 1986. We were babies practically. But, within a few weeks, I knew I would spend the rest of my life with this man.

When he was 20, he was zero population growth. I wanted to have 5 kids. He was in pre-med classes at the university. I wanted to be a photojournalist.

 He hadn't been around many children in his teen years. I was around children all the time (my nieces and nephews, and children I babysat or cared for through volunteer work at the hospital). I figured I could change his mind over time.

As he got to know my family, his feelings about having children changed. By the time he was 22, two children was enough (two being the perfect number to replace us - still zero population growth).

We dated off and on for 5 years. A lot of those years were painful. The pain was primarily caused by our  poor choices. I dated a few others during those five years but, I knew my heart belonged to this guy named David.

He mustered the courage to ask my Father for my hand in marriage. My Father agreed! 

 A few weeks later he took me on a chaperoned date on 13 February 1991. 

After midnight, on the top of Mount Soledad in San Diego, he was down on a knee asking me to marry him.

He teases me about never saying, "yes". I said, "Of course I'll be your wife!" We were married four months later.

 After some time in England in 1993, he told me, on my birthday, that he wanted to start a family. I was thrilled. I have always had a strong intuition and had a deep sense that having babies would not be an easy thing for us to do. I was right.

 It took us nearly 10 years of loss and suffering and many miscarriages to come to the decision that we didn't want to grow old without children. 

 We decided to adopt. We chose "open-adoption".  

From the time we signed up with our agency to the time our birth mother gave birth to our first son, nine months had passed. The length of a pregnancy. I had the honor of being in the delivery room when Grant was born. My Beloved and his parents were right outside the delivery room doors and heard his first cry. 

God works in mysterious ways.

Two and a half years later, I gave birth to our next three children. Triplets. Maxwell, Charlotte, and Benjamin.

 My Beloved is the best Dad. I could not have chosen a better Daddy for our four gifts. I think the best gift he is giving them is his love for God and their mom (me!).

 He was born on St. Patrick's Day 1966. His Mom says, "He was born in time for the evening news."

He is Scots-Irish (like me) and German. He loves my corned beef and cabbage, potato leek soup, pastries, apple or berry pies. 

He is an intellectual and would rather talk about string theory than sports. 

He is well read, loves dark coffee and classical music. 

He can play most wind instruments and has marched with a tuba in the most popular of America's parades (Macy's and The Rose Parade) more than once.

Anytime we watch Jeopardy, he is answering most of the questions right.

He has grieved not being a physician but, it's just as well. He is color blind and can't see bruising or redness on skin very well. 

Instead, he has a degree in chemistry.

 During these past 19 months of unemployment, he went back to school and is finishing up his Master's degree in plastics. He's a smart one.

 On this day of his birth 45 years ago. I wish him another blessed and happy birthday. 

May he grow old, by my side, and see our children's children having babies. 

Happy Birthday David Leon Gibson.

je' taime