For the last year, Gulley has told me that she wanted to do a guest post on my birthday. You have to understand that this is a big deal because she always swears she would never have her own blog because all she would ever write is “Today I did laundry. I drove carpool. I cooked chicken for dinner and served rice as a side dish. Then, I went to bed.”
Personally, I don’t think she gives herself enough credit.
Anyway, the following is by Gulley. You will notice that there are 37 things listed because today may or may not be my 37th birthday.
37 Reasons to love Big Mama
by Gulley
1. We laugh hysterically every day.
2. If we skip a day, we make up for it by laughing doubly the next day.
3. She randomly hates things. For example, “I hate pizza.” “I hate chinese food.”
4. She will hate things on your behalf. For example, “I hate [insert store name here] for being rude to you.”
5. She has given me the benefit of Fashion Friday for 19 years now.
6. She will find clothes for you, even if they would not suit her.
7. We have an unspoken hierarchy of the type of therapy needed for certain problems: cookie dough by the spoonful, queso, or a margarita.
8. The girl can cook.
9. When she has made something you like, she will call and say, “Come over. I made ______.”
10. We have shown up to drop the kids off at school wearing the same thing more than once.
11. She’s not easily offended and all the sensitive people want to be her friend.
12. Many times one of us has picked up the phone to call the other while the other was dialing.
13. She makes everything more fun.
14. She rarely ever complains about anything.
15. She is very tender and will cry with you when you cry.
16. She gives sound advice.
17. She loves God and his word.
18. On Thanksgiving we say the same thing every year: “Of all the things I have to be thankful for, you are in my top 5!”
19. She will go Christmas shopping with you all over town even when she is done with her shopping.
20. On any given day our conversation pendulum will swing from questions like, “Is my faith thrilling and delightful?” to, “What color velour is best? What are the top fashion finds right now?”
21. She DID buy our entire Bible study group blue suede fringe bracelets to wear during Believing God. She did NOT spend more time deliberating on the fringe than on the actual Bible study.
22. She always knows what to say, or what not to say. Even if it means telling me my husband is right.
23. She will run something over for you to wear in a moment’s notice.
24. She will pour over photos and magazines with you to find the perfect hairstyle.
25. She will listen and listen and listen and listen……
26. She is witty.
27. She loves my boys and bonds with them by playing games on the Wii, Uno, and going to t-ball games.
28. We share a passion for Aggie sports, especially football.
29. We both complete NCAA basketball brackets.
30. This person you see on the blog, she is all that and more, oh yes ma’am she is!
31. We can talk baseball better than two guys ever could.
32. I believe we will all have hair like hers when we get to heaven. She has no self-righteousness about this.
33. We include each other in our big moments.
34. When I start trash talking at sporting events, she is polite at first but she eventually joins in!
35. The first time we saw each other after we were both married we stayed up talking about marriage until 5 am. Then we wished aloud that stores opened at 5 am so we could go shopping.
36. When we went to New York together, I literally spent my last dollar on a must have track suit. She paid for my cab fare to the airport and my headphones on the flight home.
37. Because big news isn’t big until I have shared it with her.
Happy Birthday Big Mama! I love you more than my luggage!