Day One: A Gift for My Husband

I started the 29 Day Giving Challenge today. Originally I planned to wait until June 1st, but I’m giddy to get things started. My first gift is for the person in my life who means the world to me: my husband. I have known my husband for roughly thirteen years. We met freshman year in our college dorm. We bumped into each other from time to time, but we didn’t actually get to know one another until sophomore year.

One night my husband came down looking for a friend of mine. She wasn’t around so he popped into my dorm room to say hello. It’s strange to say, but I remember exactly what my room looked like the night he walked into it. I lived in a double, but during that short period of time, I didn’t have a roommate. My bed was propped up on cinder blocks and I had a brand new soft blue blanket covering the bed that my mom had given me for the new school year. The lights were off in my room, but I strung Christmas lights along the top of the walls so the room gave off a warm glow. I can’t remember what we talked about that night, but I remember that I couldn’t stop smiling.

It wasn’t love at first sight. We’d seen each other a ton of times before, but there was something special in that moment. Something that allows me to picture it vividly, although it happened nearly twelve years ago.

My husband and I dated on and off for years. We moved into a house just two years after I graduated and were married three years after that. Unfortunately, six months after we were married I landed in the emergency room, and I’m afraid to say things have not quite been the same since, but my husband has stood by me through all of it.

In fact, I think getting sick has fast forwarded our relationship. We’ve been through so much in the short time that we’ve been married that it seems we can get through anything as long as we’re together.

Illness has been an eye opening experience for me. I count my blessings every single day and believe in my heart of hearts that my husband is a gift to me.

So the first gift of my 29 day challenge is for my husband. It’s nothing special. Just a small table that he can rest his alarm clock on. Our bedroom is extremely tiny and right now he has to rest his alarm clock on the floor. Every time it goes off in the morning he hangs half way off the bed to hit the snooze button. Hopefully, with this new table he won’t have to bend over quite so far.