Who Do You Admire?

In a class I was in today, we had an icebreaker question, like we do every week. This week’s question was, “Who do you admire and why?”

I took my time to think as I listened to people mention people like Princess Diana and an astronaut who overcame his fear. As I listened, I scanned through people in my mind, searching for someone I could truly say that I admire.

And it landed on my husband, Justin.

Without a second thought, HE was the one person I could honestly say I truly admire and it actually made my eyes water when it was finally my turn to tell.  

He was abandoned by his birth mother. His emotional needs were neglected throughout much of his growing up. And then, in the years between our high school romance and us finding our way back to each other, he was taken advantage of, lied on, betrayed, and hurt all over again in relationships.

But yet......here he is.

He shows me every single day how important I am to him.  He loves my four older children as his own. He's an amazing dad to all of our children and an amazing Papa to our grandbabies. He works incredibly hard to provide for us and to make our house a home.

And I think what I admire most is that the things that happened to him didn't get to decide the kind of man he would become. He knows what it feels like to be abandoned, yet.....he stays. 

He knows what it feels like to have your needs overlooked, yet he works hard to make sure the people he loves are cared for. He knows what betrayal feels like, yet he still chooses to love.

He could've allowed everything he went through to make him hard. Instead, somewhere along the way, he became the kind of man who gives his family so much of what he should have been given himself.

He isn't perfect. Neither am I. And our life certainly isn't perfect.

But when someone asked me today who I admire, I realized I didn't have to search through history books or think of someone famous.

I get to live life with mine. ❤️