Last Valentine's day I shared with y'all about if my darling husband knocked again I'd say yes...That was just days before we found out Pip was in heart failure and needed more surgeries...That was before Noal embraced his terrible twos...That was before we decided it's best for me to be a stay-at-home-momma right now, so the added financial burden was all his...After all that and much, much more, this year the door would be left wide open, he wouldn't even have to knock he could just come right in...


Craig officially asked me to be his girl 11 years ago...I've been with this boy - turned man for 11 bloody years and I couldn't possibly love someone more...Watching him grow into the person he is today, all while holding his hand for the ride has made me the lucky one...I am so lucky to have found him...I am so lucky to have a love like we do...


And while we don't get that much "us" time anymore and our roles are now "momma & daddy" and our lives are consumed by two little hooligans...It's in these moments that I've never loved him more...


It's the moments watching his eyes light up when he sees his little girl after a long work day...It's the moments I hear him trying to rationalize with his toddler that he can't wear only his Lightning McQueen underwear to the store...It's the moments I hear him singing Old MacDonald with enough gusto he could be a member of the Wiggles...It's the moments he hugs me when Pip's had difficult appointments or a stranger made a silly comment...It's the moments he eats beans and toast, yet again, because I couldn't come up with anything better...It's the moments while utterly exhausted by it all he smiles at me & I'm so happy we're in this together...


Lately Noal out of nowhere will round us and by us I mean ALL of us including his pup, Deacon for a "group hug"...He'll wrap his chubby little arms around us tightly, make us kiss and almost sigh in happiness while he says, "My family"...And it's in that moment, when Craig's eyes connect with mine that I couldn't possibly be any happier...We end the big group hug every time by shouting "Home Team"...


It's silly and it might not seem like much but to me it's perfection...It's those exact moments that I could stay in forever...



I like to think that before you die or heck even while you are dead you get to embrace yourself with such moments...You get to wrap yourself up in those clumsy "group hugs" remembering snot on one shoulder and puke on the other...You get to feel your son's way too rough but he thinks their gentle nose kisses and your daughter's soft little mouth ones...You get to close your eyes forever, remembering the way your husband proudly loved you...And you get to go in peace knowing you had the most beautiful "Home Team", that was perfectly made just for you...That's heaven to me friends...


So, if I died tomorrow, while I'd be giving God/Fate/Whomever a piece of my mind for cutting it short, I'd also have to give him a high-five or hug for getting it oh so right...


Happy Love Day y'all