who he was

I just realized that I posted that I'm afraid the kids will forget H's spirit so I decided I should write about who he was. So many of my friends have told me that they wish they had gotten to know him better. I wish that too. He was an amazing person and you totally missed out if you didn't get to to know him! Here a little about him though :)

He was shy. It took him years, YEARS to ask me out!

But when he was drinking, he was so outgoing. He would talk to anyone if he had a beer!

He was so funny. That is part of what drew me to him. He could always make me laugh. He could make a joke out of anything

He was such a big man, but so loving. He was tough, but gentle. I always felt safe in his arms

He could fix anything. Seriously, anything. I remember, just a few weeks before he died, he was messing with the water heater in the garage. He called me out there to show me something and I remember asking him how he knew how to fix a water heater. He said "how do you not?!" He was so very handy.

He was slightly (mostly) pessimistic. I always told him to have a positive attitude, but he didn't

He was so hard working. He was the hardest working man I know. He didn't half-ass anything, ever

Well, unless he got really really tired and had been working on stuff for a long time. Even then though, he usually went back to finish it

He worked his way through college and was only 18 hours away from his Bachelors

He was a perfectionist. He set the bar high for himself and wasn't happy until he reached it and usually went beyond

He always hated that I was late all the time and that I made him late. His philosophy was "if you're on time, you're late"

He loved beer. He brewed his own beer for a while and he liked experimenting with flavors

He was a man of his word. When he said something, he meant it. He got offered a job making a lot more money after he had given his word with a different job and turned down the second job. Twice.

He was a loyal man. Not just to me, in our marriage, but to his friends. He didn't have many friends, but those he had were very close to him. He never said it, but I feel like he didn't want to have to give just a little of himself to a relationship. If he was going to be friends, he wanted to give you all of him.

He had such good ethics and morals. I don't know where he got them from because Lord knows he didn't learn them from his upbringing, but somehow he had them. If everyone had half of the integrity that he had this world would be a different place

He did the right thing just because it was the right thing to do

He was a man of many hobbies. He liked to start things he never finished. He did fishing, golf, boxing, auto-cross, beer making, picture framing/matting, biking, guitar playing, camping, weight lifting, hockey, football, softball, shooting guns, and so many more things I can't think of I am sure

He loved his kids. He loved them more than anything. He would have given anything for them

He loved me. I know he did. He showed it every day

He loved movies. He liked going to the theater or watching them at home. He could quote any movie and tell you who was in it

When I would ask him what a movie was about he would start with telling me who was in it. It always drove me nuts!

He liked tv shows that only 13 year old girls watched (True Blood and Dawson's Creek come to mind). I always told him he was a 13 year old girl at heart

He liked chick flicks. He said it was because of the hot chicks in chick flicks, but it was the storyline too

He hated black and white movies. He wouldn't watch Clerks with me because it was black and white

He liked helping others. He was selfish with his time (in a good way) though and if he was helping you it was because he really cared.

He was a neat freak.

And maybe more of a germ-a-phobe than me!

He liked things symmetrical. Asymmetry drove him nuts!

The man loved shoes. I know he didn't have much growing up and that probably added to his obsession, but really, it was crazy. I went through the garage and found something like 12 pairs out there alone. That doesn't even count what he has in the closets inside!

And he left his shoes EVERYWHERE! I was always yelling at him about how he only had 2 feet and there was no reason for 15 shoes to be strewn about my house. I miss tripping over his shoes

For as much as he loved shoes, he hated wearing them. He went barefoot if he could

And for that matter, he wasn't a big fan of wearing clothes at all. Until we had kids, we would come home from work and get undressed and not put clothes on again until we had to go to work the next morning

He loved the ocean. Everything about it. On our honeymoon he played in the ocean like a child

Once we had kids, he became a bit of an environmentalist. When we first got married, I dug the cans out of the trash to recycle them. He refused to recycle and thought it was dumb.

He loved history

He loved to build things. He was going to help build our house and he built all sorts of things around the house we live in now

He was so proud of our master bathroom. He designed it, built it, and finished alone! And it is B-E-A-UTIFUL!

He loved sports. College football was probably his favorite followed closely by professional hockey and basketball. Boomer Sooner! Thunder Up! Go Stars!

He loved music. He listened to all kinds of music. He told me that he thought his iTunes account was probably the most diverse ever!

He listened to music loud. Really freaking loud. I thought he might be deaf sometimes

He was so forgiving. If we were arguing, he would take a break and come back and I was totally forgiven. He never expected or wanted an apology

He didn't apologize much. Looking back, I think it was because he didn't expect it

He was such an awesome person. Really, he was. This world is totally missing out because he's not here. He was on this earth for 31 years, 7 months and 10 days. That is 11, 545 days. I was blessed with knowing him for 12 years, 7 months, and 8 days. That is a lifetime too little. He's been gone for 61 days (2 months) today. That is a lifetime too long.