jake.

word of the day: jake \ˈjāk\ all right, fine

I was saving the title of this blog post for Jake's acceptance into medical school. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that our lives are all right and fine even with another year of waiting for medical school. In fact, I fully believe that, hindsight, we'll see how this plan better suited our lives.

But, that is not the point of the post. The point is that Jake turned 26 on Friday.

Jake was a champ when the waiters at Texas Roadhouse asked him to sit on a saddle while they gave him a big "Yee-haw!" He shakes his head when I, now, give him a hard time for "pushing thirty."

Those of you who know me will know that I love birthdays. So, as we close out Jake's "birthday weekend," I felt like putting down on paper (so to speak) a few of the things I love about my husband.

Jake likes to believe that he made flannel "cool" while we were in college. In all reality, it's quite possible that he did (with the help of Nate, of course). Sometimes, when people don't know Jake's name, they just refer to him "as that guy who wears flannel," and usually that's description enough.

His legs are the same length as mine AND he is six inches taller.

When I make my friends crafty baby shower gifts, he does most of the work.

When he accidentally buzzes all his hair off, he doesn't let it ruin our date night and pulls the look off at the same time.

He plays Scrabble with me.

He cleans out the refrigerator when I ask and only complains for a little while about it.

He watches musicals and (if I'm lucky) So You Think You Can Dance with me.

He quotes lines from movies even past the punch lines.

Jake teaches me what unselfish love looks like.

He reminds me what it means to be a friend.

He exemplifies the word "generosity" and encourages me to give more freely.

He makes me laugh.

He makes time for me.

He's encouraging when I feel down, supportive when I need comfort, and convicting when I need to see my own faults.

I could go on and on. And on and on and on.

"Jake" really is in the dictionary. It really does mean "all-right" and "fine." Don't you think that's something we should incorporate into our daily vocabulary? I've always wanted to respond to the question, "How's it going?" with "Everything's jake."

Everything is Jake.

I'm learning that life doesn't have to be in perfect alignment for everything to be jake. It just has to be in perspective.

And Jake continues to help me see that.

I'm sorry, what'd you say?

Oh. Everything's Jake. Thanks for asking.