A Stand Up Guy

 

Dr. Martin Luther King once said “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” 7 years ago today a man stood with me in front of all those we hold dear and promised to keep standing by me for as long as we both shall live and stand he has. For the past 7 years he has done exactly that- stand. He has stood next to me in schools, doctor’s offices, emergency rooms, surgical suites, and beside graves. He has stood at heated city council meetings, school board meetings and public forums of all kinds. He has stood next to me at weddings, births, birthdays, and deaths. He has stood for hours in the middle of the night holding a screaming child, stood next to various oxygen tents, and stood with me ankle deep in wrapping paper, hay, pumpkins, and snow. We have stood in blood, vomit, pee, poop, and mud. He has stood with me on the soil of 15 different states and 2 countries. He has stood with me on the dirt my grandfather bought in 1941 and he has stood with me while I cut the ribbon on a new school building. He has stood to push brooms, vacuum cleaners, lawn mowers, and snow blowers. He has stood to wash dishes, fold laundry, and cook meals. He has stood in lines at grocery stores, outside fitting rooms, and in shoe stores. He has stood next to me pounding nails, pouring concrete, painting, and hanging siding. He has stood in lines at museums, airports, train stations, and to ride roller coasters. He has stood on the edges of shovels to dig foundations and to plant everything from tomatoes to trees. He has stood on ladders and roofs. He has stood in the rain, sun, and snow. He has stood with me in creeks, lakes, rivers, and the ocean. He has stood to pick apples, decorate Christmas trees, and hide Easter eggs. Has stood and held me up when I was sure I couldn’t stand anymore, that my knees would surely buckle from fear, exhaustion, or grief and showed me that I could stand as long as he was standing next to me. He stood next to me cutting cake for a sweet 16, at driver training tests, watching twirls in a dress for a dance, and as we watched a teenager leave the house on her first date. He has stood at a kindergarten round up, at play dates in the park, ankle deep in sand boxes, at parent teacher conferences, and IEP’s. He has stood with me at secretary of state signing titles on 9 different vehicles. He stood with a 2x4 over his head 15 feet off the ground and calmly told me to adjust my aim when I shot him with a nail gun. He has stood next to me with rescue inhalers, and gauze applying pressure to pouring blood. He has stood next to me and calmly instructed someone struggling to get a needle in my arm. He has stood next to me examining dozens of x-rays and CT scans. He has stood with me on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and in the offices of our federal senators and representatives while we lobbied for causes we believe in. He has stood with me in court rooms, to have petitions signed, and in voting booths. He stood with me in a steam shower in a hospital room with a baby that couldn’t breathe and he stood next to me while I was cut open and stitched back together while bringing a baby into the world. He as stood with me on mountains in 11 different mountain ranges. He has stood with me on boats, trains, and planes. He has stood with me in the dark and cold of power outages, in storms and wind. He has stood to pitch tents and share bonfires. He has stood in piles of colored leaves and on blades of spring grass. For seven years in contentment and exhaustion, in rain and sun, in cold and warmth, in joy and sorrow, in elation and grief, he has stood never wavering always steady. On this day of the anniversary of our wedding I can state with deep gratitude and complete confidence that I know exactly where he stands because every day for 7 years come strife or bliss he stood committed, enduringly, unwaveringly, next to me and for this I am grateful beyond my ability to quantify. Clinton Christopher Conley I love you without measure. Thank you for always standing by me.

Summer Lilies

“I wish I were the lily's leaf to fade upon that bosom warm, content to wither, pale and brief, the trophy of thy paler form.”
Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Flowers are to my eyes and noses what poetry is to my ears. It is probably why there is so much poetry that references flowers. I love lilies. They are one of the harbingers of summer. You know it is full on summer when the lilies arrive.

This particular lily was given to my husband and I because it blooms at the time of our anniversary every year. It was on good sized bulb when it was give to us. It has now multiplied into a whole patch.

This one Clint bought me for Mother’s Day a few years back and it has also multiplied.

With this hand…

Six years ago today a man did a crazy thing. This crazy thing was to stand in front of all the people in the world he and I hold dear, take my hand, and promise to never let go. Six years later we are still holding on. With our hands we have dug a foundation for a house, mixed and poured thousands of pounds of concrete, framed rooms, put on a roof, hung dry wall, installed windows, painted dozens of gallons of paint, sanded floors, hung siding, pounded in and drilled in dozens of pounds of screws and nails, written at least fifty papers and graded thousands, taken dozens of tests, signed teaching contracts, written an almost infinite amount of checks, voted, signed petitions, typed and written thousands of pages of text, held a baby in an oxygen tent, cleaned up puke, filled endless syringes, given injections, wiped faces/butts/and noses, put endless band aids on owies, thrown dirt on more graves then we would have envisioned possible, cooked enough meals to feed an army, washed more dishes than there are at one hundred state dinners, washed and folded more clothes than you would find in Macy’s, changed thousands of diapers, signed the title on and then done maintenance and repair on eight vehicles, changed a half dozen tires, turned hundreds of thousands of pages in books, driven hundreds of thousands of miles, picked bushels of every fruit and vegetable imaginable, canned and froze thousands of pounds of food, poured a small lake of coffee, dug holes and planted dozens of trees, planted almost 500 tomato plants, pushed mops/ brooms/vacuums/ and lawn mowers for hundreds of miles, put up at least a dozen Christmas trees, mailed more than one-thousand Christmas cards, filled more than three thousand Easter eggs, handed out over fifty pounds of Halloween candy, shoveled several tons of snow, washed hundreds of windows, snapped thousands of pictures, sewn miles of fabric, operated hundreds of different machines, and all of this while never letting go of each other. Thank you Clinton Christopher Conley for always holding my hand. I love you with out measure. I hope this is at least as good as a cheesy Hallmark card.

 

Our anniversary shed- 5 years is iron/steel right?

Okay so the traditional anniversary gift for a 5th wedding anniversary is wood but Clint found this great deal on a metal shed and we just never seem to have enough storage. Our anniversary was June 25 and nothing says true love forever like “let’s find a place to put all of our junk together”  He and his super toddler helper built the floor and assembled it including all 1000 screws, nuts, and bolts. I can think of stranger metaphors to celebrate a mirage but I won’t go there. (wink) I spent part of the summer painting it to match the house and caulking it to make it weather tight. We are very happy with. We call it the “toy box” and we keep all the bikes, trikes, wagons, pool toys, yard games, balls, and beach towels in it. It has also become a defacto changing room for folks who don’t want to go inside to change into or out of bathing suits.

“Okay dad- floor is done what’s next?”

 

Now for the sides- nobody breathe…

 

What a great helper.

 

Now for a roof.

It’s a headless husband.

 

Ta Da!!!!

Yeah for storage! Love you honey and happy anniversary- wood, steel or whatever.