Earl

Meaning Earl- Noble Man

That he always has been. I can't continue my life stories without telling you about my husband. For the sake of this blog he will be Earl- but his full name is Earl Lester and all his family  and me have always called him Lester, but everyone else he works with and our friends call him Earl. He never cared - he never liked either name. I often wondered how his mother looked at that cute baby and put that name on him but Earl suits him- he is Noble.  We were going to the same High School when we met. I like that quote from the Notebook older Allie says "It was real, wasn't it? You and me. Such a long time ago, we were just a couple of kids. But we really loved each other, didn't we?"  It's magical when you're young- those crazy feelings of love. When you think you would just die if you don't get to see him in the next minute.  There was nothing going to stop me from marrying him as soon as I possibly could. I didn't want to be anything but his wife. Only 18 and he went to schoool at night to graduate early so we could be married. I had graduated the spring before but by December we were married, back in 1983.  My parents adored him. He made me happy. He did everything he could to make me happy, and to take care of me. He joined the service and we went to Germany.  Then life and reality sink in. Oh those feelings of love were still there but add to that a new baby, his long hours spent away from me, a foreign country and not a friend to my name. I was ready to pack it back to the states within a couple of months.  He came home one night and said there was a woman's meeting on Base- I needed to go make a friend, and he was watching Jamie.  So I did and I did make a few good friends, things got a little easier.  We stuck it out through those first years in the military, when we were broke, and I was tired with the baby and Earl slept all the time because he worked morning to night. I remember our first real christmas together, the first clock I got to buy him, the first night we slept under our very own christmas tree, snuggled together looking at the lights, jamie between us. Seeing the fireworks on January first out of our bedroom window in Germany. Oktoberfest. Lots of very good memories there where we first became a family. Then we moved home and had our little girl. He got a pretty good job and we moved away again. Only an hour this time. Far enough but not too far.  We had lean years, and another beautiful child, then things picked up. He went to school. We worked different shifts so we wouldn't have to have a babysitter.  He is the best father that ever lived. I remember one of his friends asked him once, "What are you doing tonight, do you have to babysit?" and my awesome husband says "I don't babysit. Those are my children. I take care of my children."  And he supported his children through everything, concerts and ball games, and even Jenna's cheering for basketball which he never cared for, he sat through every game just to see her cheer. He made us first priority and I adore him for that. I trust him with my life. He is my backbone. Heart disease runs in his family but we were shocked to our very core when he had a heart attack at age 36.  It hit me for the first time that it was possible to lose him. That the very extension of myself could be cut off.  Thankfully surgery went well and he has been in good health for the last 8 years, but that fear never really leaves me.  And throughout Dad's sickness and passing, and now Mom's I always have that small thought what if I lose earl too? But I push it away and try to keep him eating healthy, and love on him as much as I can.  And he holds me up. He rubs my neck and tells me he loves me. am I ok, what do I need? He never hesitated when I asked him if it was alright to move Mom in with us? yes, of course. He loved my parents as his very own. But mostly he loves me, and I know it. and I am blessed.