quote of the day

"A perfect marriage doesn't require a perfect man and a perfect woman... It requires a man and a woman working together towards perfection." --Elder Dallin H. Oaks I read this somewhere today and it hit me how true this statement really is. It was one of those moments of being reminded about something I already know, but needed to hear in the moment. I've been working really hard lately, and have to re-dedicate myself occasionally, to the principle of positive encouragement and motivation rather than one of harping and criticism. It is so easy to criticize and nag for some reason, especially when men are so dad-gum gross sometimes! ugh! But I have to pull myself together, take a deep breath, and recognize that whatever he just did is really not important in the long run, and that I'm sure there are many, many instances where he wants to just wring my neck, and yet he chooses to look over my imperfections and let me learn my lessons as I go. One of the things I have learned in the last 5 and a half years of marriage is that some of the very things that drive me nuts about Spencer are the very things that I am also madly in love with. I have told him this on occasion, and he always says something like, "just like a girl...can't make up her mind." haha! But it's so true!...Both statements. For example, Spencer's latest nickname is "The Hurricane." He is always in such a crazy rush and push to accomplish the task at hand. And I quite love this work-horse, get-it-done attitude. It's what makes him successful at his job and in many other areas of his life. The dude doesn't have a lazy bone in his body. And if that wasn't enough, it's almost like he has this crazy man physical drive to figure something out and make what everyone else deemed impossible possible. Example of my example: We got a piano a couple of months ago. Used a piano dolly to get it into the house. Wanted to put it in the 3rd bedroom. Pushed it down the hall toward that room, but the hallway was too narrow and the piano wouldn't turn all the way to fit through the door. While everyone else was scratching their heads, Spencer, without speaking a word of course, grabbed some tools, proceeded to take off the front two legs of the piano, practically picked up the piano and tilted it on it's side all by himself and pushed it through the door! Everyone's jaws dropped to the floor. I just laughed. I guess I've gotten used to his heroic engineer mind and brute strength. ;) But back to the original example. I love that about him! And yet... the very thing that makes him get things accomplished quickly and magically is the very thing that makes him reckless, unorganized, and completely incautious. It could be said of him, as my dad has pointed out before, that he breaks half the things he touches while he is on his way to fix the world. haha! And oh boy, does he loose things. And has no sense of finding them either. {shake of the head} But somehow it's just become one of those endearing traits that makes him who he is. It makes me smile just as often as it makes me irritated, if not more. And I've realized that it's one of those ways that I get to fill a tiny little void in his life...because guess who happens to be really good at noticing where things are and finding them...and is ultra cautious... {yours truly}. And there are so many ways that he fills my voids...but we will save those for another post. Two imperfect people working together toward perfection...I love it, and don't want to miss a single day of this amazing journey.

Thanks, Dallin H. Oaks, for that awesome reminder.