Today is my 9th anniversary with the love of my life, Monica Shepherd. I love that girl a lot. Since we’ve made it to 9 years I thought I’d come up with 90 things that I love about her. That’s only ten things per year.

1. I love how she supports me.
2. I love that she watches SportsCenter even when I’m out of town.
3. She thinks I look really good. I’m over weight and going bald, but from her perspective you’d think I look just like Brad Pitt. I was born in Brad’s home town. Maybe there is something there?
4. I love when she laughs…especially at my jokes.
5. I love that she is not about the drama. I couldn’t handle a dramatic girl.
6. I love how excited she gets to see me.
7. She is a really hard worker. I love that about her.
8. I love that she likes to take road trips.
9. I love that she has an opinion.
10. I’m a people pleaser and she…well tells people what she thinks. I’ve become a lot more direct since meeting her and I love that.
11. I love that she is the one who took my to my first Lakers game.
12. Speaking of the Lakers, can your wife name the starting players to your favorite team? Mine knows the starters to the Lakers and most of the bench players. I’ve never coached her on that.
13. I love how she takes care of me when I’m sick. I’ve heard this about most men, but I’m a baby when I’m sick. She does a great job of taking care of me.
14. I love her smile.
15. I love when she puts her hair up.
16. She’s really patient with me. 
17. She wakes me up gently. There have been a few occasions where I fell asleep on the couch. When someone wakes me up I’ve been known to bite their head off. I don’t know what happens to me. It’s like I’m drunk. I once punched my brother when he tried to wake me up. I often don’t remember what I did, but I’ll wake up the next day feeling guilty for something.  I’m normally a laid back guy, but something crazy happens when you wake me up from the couch. Monica always gently wakes me up.
18. I love that when I hurt her she tells me that she forgives me.
19. I love that she doesn’t nag me.
20. She’s my best friend. We can spend hours with each other and not get tired of one another.
21. I love that she loves Jesus.
22. I love that she loves working with teenagers. Before she met me she was investing in teenagers. At one point she wanted to work at Young Life for a career. I love that she not only supports me working with teens she loves it.
23. I love that she’s ok that we don’t love all the same things. She likes to read a book. I like to watch the movie the book was based on. She likes sparkling vampires, fashion reality TV shows, and the beach. I don’t. Even though we don’t like some of the same things we still support one another.
24. I love her Buffalo Chicken Dip. I think we got the recipe from Danielle Peters. I love most people’s Buffalo Chicken Dip, but I love Monica’s!
25. I love that she knows fashion. Before her I would pick out my outfits based on what the manikin was wearing at the store in the mall. Now I can run things by her.
26. I love to play “Words with Friends” with her. Before we go to sleep we have a little ritual. We play Words With Friends (it’s an iPod app), we talk, and then we pray together.
27. Speaking of sleep…I don’t sleep well when Monica’s not there. If Monica is out of town I normally stay up as late as I can and then fall asleep on the couch. When I wake up I go to bed, but I toss and turn. I love when she’s home.
28. I love her sense of humor. She makes me laugh.
29. I love that she gently wakes me up when I’m snoring. I snore. Sometimes I snore loud. I’ve heard stories of other women beating the poo out of their husbands to shut them up. Not her. She gently asks me to roll over. Now it could be because she fears for her life because I do crazy things when someone wakes me up, but none the less I love her for it.
30. I love that she puts up with my lists. When we go on road trips I often come up with something that we should list. You know like the names of every NBA team, every wedding I’ve ever officiated, or our top ten favorite songs of all time. Together we were 2 NBA teams short and we came up with that I’ve done 20 weddings.
31. I love her face.
32. I love how faithful a friend she is. She has best friends in every major state.She’s a very faithful friend.
33. I love she’s heard me fart, caught me picking my nose, and knows that I have hair on my back and yet she is still not grossed out by me.
34. I love that she loves to go to concerts.
35. I love that she loves our families. She has even gone on vacation with my entire family without me.
36. I love that she scratches my back. Sometimes it itches for no reason and she has great nails.
37. I love that she has really white teeth. I hope our kids get her teeth.
38. I love it when we have nothing to do and we just sit around with each other.
39. I love she loves the TV show The Office. It took her a little while but now she loves it as much as I do.
40. I love that she takes pictures of every second of our life. Before her I didn’t have any pictures from middle school on. After I met her I know have a play by play of my life in pictures.
41. I love how she respects me. In public and in private.
42. I love how she lets me dream without making fun of me.
43. I love that she loves the local church.
44. I love that she’s tall for a girl. I hope to have really tall kids who like basketball.
45. I love that she’s ok with the fact that I stink at home repairs. She doesn’t even question my manhood for not owning any tools.
46. I got a Superman cookie jar for a wedding gift from her best friend Shima. That said cookie jar has been in our kitchen for nine years. It was my favorite wedding gift and I love that she doesn’t make me hide when we have company over.
47. I love that she’s good at grammar. I stink at it. She often proofs something that I’ve written for the blog. She’ll even send me a text if I messed something up so I can fix it.
48. She’s very sensitive to the fact that I’m sensitive.
49. She wears Lakers jerseys during the playoffs and to games. She even says that she wants one of her own.
50. I love that I can be myself with her.
51. I love that she loves my blog and even leaves comments.
52. She loves to dance. I don’t. I love that she puts up with my simple dance moves when we do dance.
53. I love that she carries a purse. I can’t find anything in there to save my life, but I love that she has it. She stores all sorts of things like tissues, food, and stuff for me to play with when I get bored at Dr.’s offices.
54. She gets excited when I come home from work. It feels great to have someone who likes seeing you when you get home.
55. I love her brown eyes.
56. Almost all of my favorite memories include her. Wedding, being in LA at the game where the Lakers won their conference, seeing U2 in concert, and living in TX for two years.
57. I love that she loves to be married.
58. I love that she fights fair. When we do get in an argument she doesn’t bring up the past, call names, or put me down. We stick to the subject and fix it.
59. I love staying up late with her. She’s a night owl and I’m not. It doesn’t happen much but I love it when I can stay up late.
60. I don’t love that she is almost impossible to surprise. I do love that she loves to surprised me.
61. I love that even before we were dating she owned a Superman t-shirt.
62. I love that her favorite movie is Dumb and Dumber and not Dirty Dancing.
63. She doesn’t make me read her mind. Too many girls expect their husbands to read their minds and know how they are feeling. Since I can’t read her mind I love that she communicates with me.
64. She’s my best friend.
65. I love that she doesn’t like fancy food. We both have pretty simple tastes when it comes to food.
66. I love making her mix CD’s and I love that she loves my mixes.
67. She is confident in who she is.
68. I love that it was her idea for me to spend some of my money from doing weddings on a Playstation 3.
69. I love seeing her greet at church on Sundays. She is a really good greeter.
70. She loves Yankee Candles and I love that our house smells nice.
71. I love that she has integrity.
72. I love that I don’t have to worry about her. She makes wise choices. I know some guys who worry about their wives when they go out. She gives me no reason to worry.
73. I love that she is good with details. I stink with details. I normally just handle things moment by moment. She’ll think through things like bringing an umbrella to Student Camp just in case it rains.
74. She gets really tan. I love that.
75. I love that she likes my friends and doesn’t give me a hard time for hanging out with them.
76. She gets me and doesn’t try to change who I am.
77. I love how good she is at her job. She’s an amazing teacher.
78. I also love that she wants me to meet her kids each school year. Each year I get to come meet her kids. She even asks me to come in a read my all time favorite children’s book “Walter the Farting Dog.”
79. I love that she’s not crazy.
80. She is flexible. Let me clarify…when it comes to things like plans or decisions she is flexible. I tend to waffle on things and I love that a change of plans doesn’t throw her off.
81. I love that her ring tone on her phone for me is Big Poppa by the Notorious B.I.G. 
82. I love that she helps guard my eyes and understands how images can get stuck in a guys mind. 
83. Before Monica I didn’t wear sunglasses. She kept encouraging me to get some. Now I keep them in my car and I hate driving when it’s sunny out without them. 
84. I love that she makes me want to be a better person. 
85. I love when she is silly. 
86. I love when she sings. We have fun singing loud together. 
87. She is the best wife ever! 
88. I love that she is going to be a great mom. I’m scared to be a dad, but I have confidence that she’ll help me not jack it up completely.  
89. I love that she doesn’t love pets. 
90. She brags on me. 

Monica it’s been an amazing 9 years. Thanks for being you. I love you with all my heart.