My Amazing Wife, Jodi-Lyn

See, people just don’t get it.

My wife rocks, which results in helping to make my life rock.

Let’s see, Jodi is at home with Norah during the day, and doing an amazing job of looking after a pretty easy-going baby. I go to work, leaving at about 6:00 AM, coming home between 4:15 and 6:00 at night. I hang out with Norah, and then Jodi and I balance getting dinner ready, bathing Norah and getting her fed and to bed. Some of the responsibilities have changed in the past few weeks as Norah’s sleep routine has evolved, and the two of us have done a mighty fine job of flowing through the changes with ease.

See, now I have a happy easy-going baby, and an amazing and sleep-deprived wife.

So, in order to help Jodi to get some more sleep, I take Norah in the morning on the weekends, until it’s feeding or first nap time. I also take Norah out grocery shopping or to the LCBO, in order to give Jodi some more catch-up time. Then there are the outings that Norah and I go on, which usually involve going to visit friends or family with her, giving Jodi some time to herself.

There are the times that Jodi and I hang out with Norah, just having fun with her, all-the-while talking about stuff. Needs and wants, work-related stuff, silly and serious stuff. Not always world changing, but communicating nonetheless. We read stuff off our iPhone feeds or Facebook, and I bounce food/recipe ideas by Jodi for her brainstorming energy, thoughts on global politics and inappropriate undergarments, and the like.

I have time to create in the kitchen. Cooking and baking. This is something that I love to do. Passionately. Jodi lets me do this because it means that I’m doing something I like, and often the results are positive for all parties. It also means she’s not doing the cooking. But, she doesn’t love the mountain of mess I’m prone to leave behind in the kitchen. I’m working on the “Clean as you go”, but it’s just too hard to keep on top of what I’m doing when going as fast as I go. I’m apt to be doing three or four things at once. As sous chef, line cook, head chef, prep cook and bottle washer, a mess is going to result.

And Jodi steps up and sometimes deals with piles of dirty dishes and prep stuff all over the kitchen. But her doing this means that I have time to do laundry. I’m not going to try and convince anyone that I’m doing the laundry after I’ve spent hours creating in the kitchen and on the BBQ. No, but when I grab Norah in the wee hours on a Saturday or Sunday, I start to get the washing and drying done. This helps to keep costs down (water costs less on the weekend) and means that Jodi can fold the laundry whenever she has time. And if it's feeding time, then I'll head down (as I did today) and cleaned up the mess from last night while Jodi was feeding Norah.

So, we’re once again working together as a well-oiled machine.

With a happy baby. A happy baby that’s started a new sleep routine that seems to be resulting in her being even happier, and a little more independent in starting to sooth herself and sleeping in her crib in her Keith Haring-adorned room.

Keith Haring in the baby’s room! Yet another reason why I love my wife so much.

My wife is amazing. (Almost) perfect for me. I wouldn’t be fooling anyone in saying she’s perfect, since she doesn’t eat fruit. But she eats my cooking. The spectacular and the mundane. The too salty and the too spicy. Because she gets the bigger picture. She trusts me. Implicitly. Perhaps more than I deserve. But she has a sense of who I am and what I’m about, and part of what I want to do with my hyphen (1970 - ????) of life.

I’ve never felt more alive. I’ve never felt more connected with my world, and the world around me. I’ve never been happier. I owe that happiness to a lot of people, but more assuredly my wife is at the top of the list. And Doug Tindall.

There is so much that I learn from Jodi, and that she allows me to teach her. Though, she does seem to ignore random bits of trivia that I share with her. But, if you ask her who the band is that’s playing, she’ll probably say “The Cure”. Jodi is fearless. She led us through five months away. She delivered a peach of a daughter like a champ. She parents with a great combination of common sense, calmness, learning from others and reading the right books.

I guess she parents the way I cook. Maybe that’s why Norah’s so damn tasty.

Jodi, thanks so much for being one of the two greatest things in my life.