Valentine's Day

The most important things are the hardest to say, because words diminish them.

-Stephen King

Kerri and I decided a couple of years ago that we would stop "doing" Valentine's Day. I suppose it's a good reminder to show appreciation to your loved one and express all that they mean to you. But more often than not, it's a day during which people spend too much money on what can often be seen as a completely shallow gesture. Do I love somebody more because I bought roses that some poor Ecuadorian woman got paid pennies to harvest while choking on dangerous pesticides? Or a diamond that may or may not have funded the massacre of some village in Africa? Grand gestures seem less sentimental to me than genuine words.

That being said, I think I would like for others to understand what she means to me. For the past (nearly) nine years, Kerri has been my biggest cheerleader. My most understanding and wise confidant. My rock. The girl who took a sheltered, awkward kid and supported him as he became a worldly, awkward man. The person I can turn to for advice which has truly never been wrong. The person who knows what joke I'm going to make before I make it. The woman who never tires of hearing my stupid random facts that I've told her a million times or more ("You know, honey, that Steve Martin is actually a world-class banjo player. Like seriously one of the best."). The girl who still makes my eyes water every time she cries at a movie or TV show. The lady who will get in my face and set me straight when I lose my way. The woman who has relentlessly supported me in anything I've wanted to do.

Kerri helped me finally realize how miserable I was at Goodyear and finally convinced me to quit (although I got laid off before I could make my exit). She stood by me, despite the extending waistline, receding hairline and incredible stress of running that store. She laughs at all my dumb jokes. When I got weak and pansy-ass a couple of years ago, she protected me from any and all bad news that I couldn't take any more of, and loved me no matter how pathetic I must have seemed to her. She also never judged me for that. She inspires me with the fact that she loves what she does for a living, and is damn good at it. She has never judged me for becoming a big fat cow, although she is very excited about me losing all that weight. She exemplifies grace. She is unbelievably smart and witty. She makes better each life that she touches.

I will never be half the man that she deserves in life. It's cliché, but it's true: she makes me want to be a better man. I thank my lucky stars every day that I wake up next to this beautiful, talented, smart and lovable gal who I don't deserve. She's amazing and you can't have her.