About Us, Meet the Hubby

When I started the blog, I had to write an “about me” page. Today I’m going to tell you “about us”. June 29th seems like an appropriate time to introduce you to Lynn because it is a big day for us … today is our 25th anniversary.

I could tell you our whole long story. I could tell you how we met at a dog show. I could tell you the story of Lynn sneaking away to the jewelry store to pick up my ring while I shopped inside. I could tell you about getting engaged after only 10 months of dating. I could tell you about our two and a half-year long engagement. I could tell you about Lynn buying my first horse (ok I will tell that one, just not today). I could tell you the journey that moved us from a farm in central Iowa to the horse shows of Wisconsin. I could tell you about starting a business, building a house, putting down roots and amazing life-long friends that kept us in Wisconsin. But I’m not going to do all of that today. Today, I’m going to tell you about the man that’s walked through all those things with me and where that journey has led us.

We knew early in our relationship that he was the one for me and I was the one for him. Lynn is my helpmate, my champion, my handsome prince, and knight in shining armor all rolled into one. Lynn is a great cook, helps with laundry, dishes, and all the boring household chores neither of us really want to do. He has always been there for me. He just “gets me”. He is willing to help anybody with anything he can and is a loyal friend to many. He has been my best friend for many, many years.

We work together on a lot of things currently: our insurance business (www.incontrolpremiums.com), horse shows, managing the church’s food pantry garden, supporting youth at our local fair as a fair board member and horse and pony project superintendent. We’ve fostered puppy mill dogs and volunteered at a stable with therapeutic equine activities. We like to travel, explore new places, and cook together.

Lynn supports the things I am passionate about: embroidering, writing poetry, and now blogging. He knows that I decompress and destress when I am in nature and around animals. He patiently waits while I chat with friends at a show or stop to hug and snuggle their horse. He grins when my voice goes up an octave (or two) as I squeal with delight when I see a baby animal that’s “soooo cute.” He points out frogs and toads because I think they are adorable and get excited to see them hopping around. He doesn’t fuss when I get a new bling belt or shirt that will be great for shows. He’s known from the beginning that I wear my emotions on my sleeve and lead with my heart. He knows the people that mean the most to me are my family and friends. He’s not one for long walks for no reason, but he will go with me anyway.

We are pretty busy and don’t have a lot of down time during the majority of the year, but that works for us. We've had people ask if we ever fight? And honestly, no, we don't. We disagree sometimes, we even agree to disagree on occasion. But we work through it and figure out the common ground. We both know in the end it's not worth it to get mad or upset, especially when compared to the stuff that we handled early on. We've journeyed through a lot of life as a team. That journey has given both of us a broader sense of the things that are worth getting concerned about, or doing something about, and the things in life that you just handle and move on from. When you’re young you don’t quite understand what “for better or worse, in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer,” might really mean. Just like most of you, we have seen all of those things.

Since moving to Wisconsin, I have been diagnosed with diabetes. Diabetes affects everyone around you, especially your spouse. From the overwhelming array of emotions when I was first diagnosed, to the ongoing support and care since then. As I learned about my disease, he did to. He’s the one that runs for juice at 4:30 in the morning when I can barely speak because my blood sugar has dropped dangerously low. He’s the shoulder I cry on when my body unexpectedly turns on me and I can’t fix it. He is the one that brings me cheerios and wax donuts when I can’t bring myself to eat anything else. He knows if I don’t eat supper by 6:30 and don’t get to sleep by 10 tomorrow is going to be a “bad” day. He knows somedays are going to be spent on the couch cuddling the dogs. He knew when it was time to take me to the ER instead of urgent care because something was really wrong. He enjoys the days nothing significant happens because of my diabetes just as much as I do.

The big thing about us is that we tackle it together which makes us stronger. We are very like-minded in many ways which is super helpful. We don't always choose the right path, but there’s two of us to walk it. When we’re out and about you may notice neither of us tends to get extremely frazzled or overly anxious, especially when we're together. In the grand scheme of things, we both know that as long as we go through it together, we'll get through it. We still have highs and lows, we can be cranky, irritating, lazy and all the things that humans are, but, when you see us together, you’ll see that we still flirt, we still enjoy just staring at each other and hanging out together. We can have a conversation without saying a word because we know each other’s facial expressions and body language so well. There are a lot of reasons for that. We balance each other well and understand each other’s quirks. He still makes me laugh and the sound of his voice makes my day instantly better. We love each other unconditionally. It is what gets us through whatever we're going through. It makes the bad days doable and the good days great. Neither one of us is perfect, but we are perfect for each other.