Happy Birthday Amy!

In part of Amy's birthday celebration this year, I wanted thank her for being the truest, most beautiful, most inspiring person I know. In an effort to do so--against my better judgement--I'm sharing here a poem I wrote her in 2006, and today add three more verses:

There once was girl who got left at home
With no money to spend, and two little gnomes

She'd a bean on the way, And an 'ol chubby hubby

And a house that each day would make itself grubby 

And then one lone night, that girl had a dream
That she took those two gnomes and trained them to clean

And found a new hubby, better by far

Who had wads o'money and shiny new cars

And she got new clothes, and toys, and perfume

And long naps each day from 3 back til noon

And a fitness guru to be her own trainer
And a cook for her pasta who'd use his owns strainer

For these and all forms 'o daily duress

Her dream did provide and save her much stress

Ensuring her peace, ease, fitness and fun

And freeing her up to read, eat and run 

Now lets take a break from girly's nice dream,

And return to it a little later--on in this stream

To discuss that same night, cross the country in Boston

Where chubby ol' hubby was turnin and tossin

And dreaming himself of similar fluff

Of girly and gnomes and money and stuff

But his dream was tweaked and all 'bout a place

Where he'd already shown his chubby face

Where sometimes-tired girly and gnomes played around
In a self-grubbing place where finances were down

And cars, house and clothes were in need of attention

And time is constrained, triple-booked, not to mention 

Of these and all those other things that went with 'em

This hubby did dream, but not with derision

No 'twas not with disdain that he tossed and he turned

But, instead, for that place he found that he yearned
Each minute away from that oft-grubby place

Seemed always like days, and he long-prayed for grace

To take him back safe to her and his home

To see tired girly and he-and-she gnomes 

And lucky for him when ol' girly awoke

She laughed at her dream and felt it a joke
And accepted him each time that he returned
Though chubby and cheap and tired and life-spurned

And with open arms and within her stride
Did work with His faults and frustration did hide

And for clean house, money, ease, and fluff-stuff
Did settle for dreams and that was enough.

_________________ 

Now be-fore they knew, seven years more they had seen

And gnomes three and four had now joined the team

And hubby and girly traded-in Boston 

To move to Seattle and start Microsoft'en

And raising those gnomes the best that they could

With laughter at errors, and mistakes understood 

Now these recent years had not all behaved

And at times time stood still and seemed a dark cave

In which hubby and girly would take turns with the light

When one fell exhausted, the other one rose to fight 

And at these times, to hubby, it never seemed fair 

That girly would oft accept more pain than her share

And carry their family on her shoulders broad

And draw him to his feet and turn him to God 

So girly, I love you. And words soon disgrace

My desire to express how I feel anyplace

Where you or your laughter or your effect I feel

For you 'for my Maker I humb-a-ly kneel 

And know His perfection b'cuz me he so knew

To create perfection personified, my angel, my You.