My Wonderful life

I have a wonderful life….really I do. I tell you that not to brag but so you know how grateful I am. My life isn’t perfect by any stretch of the imagination but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I always dread a national election year, so much animosity and back and forth just stresses me out. I hate the commercials, calls and especially the convention coverage. It riles people up and suddenly we aren’t very united anymore. But there is one thing I love about BOTH National conventions….it is when the spouses introduce the candidates. I don’t care what party you are from, when you stand in front of the nation and tell everyone how much you admire and support your spouse and how proud you are of them, well….it just feels good. Can you imagine hearing those words? How incredible would that be?

It made me think….I need to write an introduction speech for my sweet husband that I absolutely adore (and probably don’t tell him enough) I need him to know what I would say if I were given the chance to stand in front of millions of people and introduce him.

Our life has always been full…Friday nights and Saturdays usually mean a sporting event of some kind, Sundays are family time and movie night…and a date night for Corey and me is usually dinner at a local restaurant belly up to the bar for adult conversation.
And the truth is, I love the life we have built for our family…I deeply love the man I have built this life with…and I wouldn’t change a thing. Even though it is messy crazy chaos most of the time….it’s mine!

We met when we were both working at Outback Steakhouse in Nashville over 20 years ago. He had just finished up college in South Carolina and I had just moved to Nashville to be closer to my mom who had been diagnosed with breast cancer. We got to talking one day before our shift and when Corey started telling me about his family – that’s when I knew I had found a kindred spirit, someone whose values and upbringing were so much like mine. (Plus he was so dang cute) Corey and I had so much in common. Both our parents were in the school system, we had both been raised in the boondocks and we both loved UK basketball! Match made in heaven I tell ya.

We made plans to go out after work with another couple and I really didn’t think much about it. He was cute and funny and I thought “what the heck”. We sat down at the bar and for the next 4 hours didn’t stop talking. The lights came on and the bartender said, “Time to go guys”. We looked around and everyone was gone…it was just the two of us and we had no idea when everyone had left. We have been together ever since.

Corey and I have a connection that is hard to put into words and we have had this connection since that first night. We think the same thought at the same time, crave the same food, like the same songs, laugh at the same things…the list goes on and on. We both love sports, rap music, dancing, lazy days on the couch, a good happy hour and a big ol’ belly laugh that makes your cheeks hurt. I know it sounds corny, but we truly are best friends. Meant to be!

He is the most incredible father; patient, loving, encouraging and funny…very very funny. (Sometimes not as funny as he thinks he is)

He has coached everything and I do mean everything…soccer, baseball, basketball and now volleyball. Not to mention all the hours of playing in the yard, teaching them how to ride their bikes and helping them with their homework. We have been true partners in this parent thing and I am so proud of the job we have done together. It hasn’t always been easy and we have made some mistakes along the way but I wouldn’t want to be on this adventure with any one else in the world.

When we took the leap last April to start Spalding Surgical I was so proud of the businessman Corey had become. I knew it was time for him to go out on his own even if he wasn’t so sure. It has been a challenge figuring it all out but well worth it. We can look at this company and know we built it together, side by side. Just like we had always dreamed. We let our faith be stronger than our fear and wow was it ever worth it.

We have been blessed with 3 children and recently with 2 more. A house full of teenage boys isn’t for the faint of heart but I wouldn’t have it any other way. They have been a bigger blessing for us than we have for them. Like my mom always said…The more the merrier (She came from 9 kids haha)

Corey has held my hand through every childbirth, illness, and disappointment. He has always stepped up for the big stuff too; 2 miscarriages, the loss of my mother 3 years ago and now the diagnosis of breast cancer. He is my rock, he is how I can get out of bed and know that I will be okay. He is the one that can make me laugh through the tears. He makes me feel beautiful even on my worst of days. His eyes still light up when I walk in a room and he is my biggest fan…..Every. Single. Day. He not only tells me he loves me multiple times a day…he shows me too.

And I didn’t think it was possible, but today, I love my husband even more than I did 21 years ago. My world is a better place with him in it….I am a better person because of him.

There are no words to express my gratitude for this man. I know how difficult this battle will be for him. All he wants to do is fix it…make it easier for me and it kills him that he can’t. But what he doesn’t realize is having him by my side does make it better and makes me stronger. There is not a day that goes by that I don’t say thank you for having him in my life.

Corey….I love you more than you will ever know and I always will.