Beautiful Women

It was brought to my attention that I am indeed a lucky man to have so many beautiful women in my life. (Being a typical man, I am often very dense and sometimes subtle hints tend to go unnoticed accordingly.) This, however, is something which I have definitely always known and recognized, even if I have not always been smart enough to verbalize this enthusiastically and often to these terrific women! Being an insensitive man can make life difficult, as all of you men out there with wives, girl friends (hopefully not on of each of the preceding!), daughters, sisters, mothers, and mother-in-laws will know!

I laugh when I hear how it is a man's world out there. Any man that has been married more than a week and actually gives a dang about his beloved, flat out knows that this is not true. As my youngest daughter continuously likes to quote from the horrific chick-flick, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, "The husband is the head of the house-hold, but the wife is the neck and she can turn the head any way she wants." (To which I respond that this is where the term "pain in the neck" originated.) I was always annoyed with that movie's supposedly humorous line, probably because it had a ring of truth to it. Needless to say, I love all of my girls and I am hopelessly and happily there to do their bidding.

For a guy that grew up with only one woman in the house-hold (Mom), I was thoroughly unprepared for how my heart would be captured and gently persuaded by all of the women that would eventually become the very best part of my life.

For starters, my dearest wife is my best friend and indeed my soul mate. She is exceptionally smart and has always had a very loving spirit. Her caring and compassion towards others, even to her own detriment at times, is unparalleled in my experiences. She is truly an incredible woman in every possible facet of her being and I am incredibly blessed that she chose to be with me. I often point out that her only real flaw was her taste in men.

With my beloved, we have three beautiful daughters. Each of them are loving, caring, strong, independent women that are incredibly beautiful in spirit, as well as in appearance. They each are unique in style and talents, but are all similar in that they each have been very precious to me and made my life so much better for having raised them. Often I learned so much more from them than I ever taught them, particularly when it comes to love.

My Mom and my mother-in-law are likewise beautiful. Mom has always been exceptionally hard-working and loyal to those she loves. Further, I am blessed to be evidently the exception to the rule as I dearly love my mother-in-law too. She is terrific in ALL ways and has always been nothing but gracious and loving towards me. Same can be said for my sister-in-law.

Lastly, but certainly not the least, is my newly re-found sister. My sister (from my dad's first marriage prior to meeting my mom) and I had lost touch with each other for over 30 years due to really foolish circumstances that neither one of us created. The fantastic thing is that I have found her again and we have become very close. She is a wonderful and loving person, just like all of the other women in my life. (And she is the only one of all of my girls that actually shares my love and passion for NASCAR driver Mark Martin and our semi-mighty Portland Trailblazers!) We seem to be commiserating a lot about that lately.

Anyway, it is ironic to think about how a boy growing up with very little female influence in his life can have his life so enriched by a group of loving, beautiful women. I am indeed blessed by God to have each and every one of them to be such a wonderful part of my life. I love all of you girls very much!

PS: The picture is that of my three daughters and wife that was taken at my middle daughter's wedding nearly six years ago.