On the day that you were born, the angels got together...

(Never thought I'd reference a Carpenters tune now, did ya'?)

Well, it's just that kind of day...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MR. BLOGGER!

To my husband who is...

THE KINDEST
THE SWEETEST
THE MOST PATIENT
THE MOST LOVING
THE CUTEST
THE SEXIEST
THE FUNNIEST (IN A GOOD WAY)
THE MOST ADORABLE
THE MOST HANDY TO HAVE AROUND IN MEDICAL EMERGENCIES
THE BEST AT GETTING ME TO LAUGH WHEN I'M CRABBY
THE BEST NATURED

...(I could go on and on) HUSBAND IN THE WHOLE WORLD!!!!!!!!

Now don't be telling me all about how, no, YOUR husband is (although I applaud that and am glad you found him).

This is the day we celebrate MB...a man who has been my best friend, my partner, my doctor, my shrink, my LOVE...frankly, my EVERYTHING for the past three years.

I don't know how I was so lucky to have found you. I tend to question it every day. Am I deserving? Am I good enough? Am I the same in return?

But then I learned that you just THANK YOUR LUCKY FREAKIN' STARS and go with it.

I'm pretty sure everyone knows this story, but it bears repeating.

When I first went to London on vacation, I had known quite a few friends, friends-of-friends, acquaintances etc, who lived there and had offered to be my tour guides and show me all the native's ins-and-outs. MB was one of those people.

I had promised so many that I would be in touch when I arrived, and we would then meet up. It was just chance that the first person I reached on my first day there was MB.

Now, I'm not stupid. He did sound cute. And we had conversed previously, but this "first time ever to the UK" trip had meant so much to a girl that had been an Anglophile as long as she could remember (and you should have seen my pages-long list of things to do and see I brought with me...MB still teases me about it).

I would of course enjoy a handsome British dinner date, but that wasn't why I was there. So we met up that evening.

Holy moly was he cute! He took me for Thai food (and got even cuter when we discovered we both were veggies) and walked me all around. I kept remarking that the whole place looked like a movie set...it was all so unreal. Well, that may have been the jet lag talking, but you get my drift.

He then suggested Sugar Reef to go dancing and when the gorgeous girl bartender came from behind the bar to give him a big hug and kiss, well, WHO THE HELL WAS SHE?! Turned out she was his brother's ex-girlfriend, but what the heck was up with my sudden pang of jealousy?

So after dancing up a storm (a GUY who liked to dance...what, did you custom order this one for me or something, God?), we sat on the couches and talked. Or tried to talk, given the volume.

I was starting to fall for this man...I knew it. I have never been one to hide my feelings either, so I thought what the hell and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Since I still couldn't completely read his feelings yet, it seemed the safe and semi-cute thing to do.

His face lit up with a HUGE smile and that was it...MAKE OUT CITY.

What an American hussy.

So the next day he took me EVERYWHERE. I have never walked so much in my life, nor been so incredibly exhausted at the end of a day. It was so great to have someone who was a native Londoner as your guide though, 'cause there was no end to the interesting stories, and short cuts, and off-the-beaten-path places to go. One of these included a boat restaurant on the Thames where we had lunch.

Pay attention...that last part will be VERY important.

When he took me back to my hotel, he asked if I would like to accompany him to a party his brother was having that evening (brother number three, not brother number four who had the bartender girlfriend...MB's the eldest of five boys...it took me forever to memorize them all).

But I begged off because I was so freakin' tired and jet lagged and had just reached my max for the day. I told him to have fun and he promised to come by in the morning for more sightseeing.

I went to bed at some ridiculously early hour and hoped I would be refreshed when I awoke. A cute boy would be arriving to take me more places and I was pretty excited about that.

But NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO...when I awoke, it was TO VOMIT MORE THAN I HAD EVER THOUGHT HUMANLY POSSIBLE. I was up from about 1:00AM until he got there around 9:00am...only to see me in the bathroom...cuddled up in a blanket...lying on the floor, because it had become just too difficult to run back and forth from my bed.

THAT %#&^$&*(^&@# Stilton and mushroom salad I had for lunch ended up giving me the worst food poisoning I have ever had in MY ENTIRE LIFE.

On only the second day of my 10 day trip.

ARE WE SURPRISED?!?!?!

I would now like to state that there is perhaps no more embarrassing illness to have in front of someone who is:

A. Essentially a stranger

B. Cute

C. Someone you had hoped to impress...not repulse

But in the FIVE DAYS it took me to get over this most disgusting of ailments, guess who came to my room and took care of me EVERY SINGLE DAY?

He called the hospital, he called my insurance in the US for me to see how I'd be covered, he brought me crackers, he CALLED MY MOM...well, he did everything.

I know part of that was the EMT in him that kicked in and wouldn't let someone in that much suffering go it alone. But what he did was truly beyond the call of duty. I mean really, can YOU imagine doing that for someone you just met?

When I finally got better, I was so upset that all my plans had been cut short, so I called the airline and extended my trip for two weeks.

We never left each other's side in that entire time.

I never called any of my other friends to meet up.

And we fell in love.

Around a month later, he came to see me in San Diego and proposed...about two hours after his plane landed.

There was NO DOUBT IN MY MIND WHATSOEVER that he was the one. And that he would love me and take care of me and be with me through whatever we would encounter. (Including all the immigration hassles entailed in wanting to marry someone from another country...that alone could have broken the closest of couples.)

I now call it the "True Love Through Food Poisoning" test. How could you let go of someone who had passed with such flying colors? (Little did he know it was just the start of many, many, MANY illnesses to come.)

But he's never made me doubt my decision to say yes. Not once.

So on this anniversary day of Mr. Blogger's entrance into the world, I would like to say first, THANK YOU M-I-L, and secondly, thank you to the man who taught me from just about the first day we met, what it means to have true, solid, all-encompassing love...

I LOVE YOU MORE THAN I COULD EVER SAY.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!