Kristie Colby: Why She Is the Love of My Life

This beautiful woman is more than meets the eye. She is mother of four, wife of an untidy husband and very tolerant of my life as a writer.

As part of the “A to Z Blogging Challenge” and because this is my 100th post, I could not write about the letter that begins my wife’s name without writing a blog post about her and how she is the inspiration for every female lead in all of my fiction written since the day I met her.  We’ve been married now for nearly 14 years and I am proud to say we’re as happy as raccoons in a corn field.

So here are the reasons:

This is my son. Preemies are full of energy as if they lost something in the long journey to full weight.

1.  Best Mom Ever – We have four children.  Conner, our son, is 12, Kaylee (daughter #1) turns 11 this week, Leigha (daughter #2) is 8 and Meagan (daughter #3) is 6.  When my son Conner was born he came to us 3 1/2 months early, weighed 1 pound 8 ounces and was hooked up to every machine possible to keep him alive.  Kristie stayed with him every day, traveling 50 miles to the neonatal hospital and came home every evening exhausted.  I would pick her up nearly every day and she would be there with her arm inside the oxygen tent, her dainty hand on his tiny body.  For my children, she is their advocate, their greatest admirer, their encourager, their personal assistant and their voice of reason.  If you want to know what she should make per year, look at this link.  According to the calculator, Kristie’s salary should be over $132,000 a year.

My custom made Boba Fett costume stands in the corner of our front room greeting visitors who usually don't stare. It was Kristie's idea to put him there.

2.  She Loves Unconditionally – I’m not the neatest guy.  I’m not able to do too many things at once.  I write all the time.  I make a mess when I cook.  I make a mess in my car.  I usually throw my shoes in my closet.  I am a walking untidy area.  Kristie has been training me to do better, but like some lovable dog who pees on the carpet, she doesn’t yell at me but kindly tells me of her disapproval.  It is not in a nagging way.  I cannot explain it.  She just has a way of getting me to do what is necessary.  It is unconditional love that is absolutely undeserved, and for that I return the favor and clean up around myself more than I would if I were alone.  As you can see here, she lets me keep a life-sized Boba Fett in the front room on a mannequin and she’s not really a sci-fi nut at all.

3.  She Is Incredibly Frugal – She is amazingly good with money.  I’m not really sure what we have financially.  (We can’t have very much.  I’m a high school teacher and she is a paraprofessional p.e. teacher at the elementary.)  We always manage to pay the bills and have a little left over for family fun and going on bi-weekly or monthly dates together.  She finds the best deals and shops thrift stores like champ.  I don’t know how she does it.  I think it might be a mutant ability.  No idea what her superhero name would be at Xavier’s School for the Gifted, but I’m sure it would be something cool like… well I won’t come up with one because I can just see her eyes rolling right now.

I could go on and on writing about things that give her the title “love of my life” but this would be the longest blog post in history.  I will simply end this 100th article by saying that it is because of Kristie that I write so much, that I’m a good dad for my children, that I’m polite at parties, that I’m not such a cro-magnon, and that I am worth the skin I live in.

God bless her.  She is truly amazing.