I Love These Men

My husband has a couple of kooky talents that are part of what I adore about him, and that he probably doesn’t consider talents (nor will he understand why they’re likable, which also makes them more likable…).

Thing 1: Despite the fact that this man somehow conned his way out of taking P.E. in high school and instead completed quadratic equations or diagrammed sentences during that period each day, he has this uncanny ability to catch anything thrown to him.

Or at him.

It was mainly the at him part that caused me to first discover this hidden talent. I’m a pretty hard to tolerate person who loves to do things like sprinkle cold water on you while you’re showering or stick my cold hands inside your shirt when you’re nice and snuggly warm. I also sometimes throw things at people just because it amuses me.

My husband? He catches them. It doesn’t matter how deep in thought he is at the moment or even if both hands are full or otherwise occupied. With no warning his go-go-gadget arms fly into the air and catch my wildly thrown pitches. I don’t know why, but it impresses the hell out of me and warms my little heart.

Thing 2: My husband knows things. Weird things. Random things. While that may not involve the lyrics to every Billy Joel song or any knowledge about anything Andrew Lloyd Weber, in general he has a vast knowledge of useless, trivial facts. I imagine that while he was supposed to be learning the names of every WWII battle during his P.E. study hall, he was actually reading books filled with these useless, trivial facts.

This ability has proved itself to be very useful over the years just as my sense of direction and ability to survive through common sense has served him. But lately this fun little idiosyncrasy of my husband’s has nearly moved me to tears because my son has become his mini-me.  These two creatures who could not be more different in most ways – in fact, Noah is so very much me that it is frightening – have found this odd common ground where they have conversations such as these:

“Dad, has any NFL team ever had a completely undefeated season?”

“Yes, in 1972 the Miami Dolphins had a perfect season.”

“So they went to the Super Bowl?”

“Yes.”

“And they won?”

“Yes.”

“That’s great, Dad.”

And they continue eating their egg drop soup as if a strange little meeting of the minds has not just taken place.

And my heart melts.

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4 Comments

  • I love when Paul and the boys have those mini me moments. First, I disagree with you. I call it love when I introduce a cold hand under Paul’s shirt. It’s sexy.

  • OK, you’re right, you are a pain in the ass.

  • I tend to be the one in my relationship who knows all the random bits of knowledge. I’m the queen of Trivial Pursuit. 🙂 My husband is really good at catching things too. Must be a guy thing.