Happy birthday to The Wife
Have you done exactly what you wanted to do for the last 10 years, and done so at the very highest levels possible, on your own terms?

Yeah, me neither.

But she has. This is why I found it puzzling that she's spending her 33rd birthday feeling like she hasn't accomplished anything.

Had she set another goal 10 years ago, she'd be sitting in a mahogany-paneled office somewhere, busting her ass at her $350,000-a-year job doing whatever the hell it was she wanted to do.

Instead, she chose another path. Back in early 1994, before the Old Daughter was born, she decided she was going to be the best stay-at-home mom on the planet. And she dedicated herself 100 percent to that goal. She read all the books. She surrounded herself with friends who shared her philosophies. We whittled down some debt and set some financial priorities. I took a series of better jobs.

After one uneventful pregnancy, we went through very difficult times bringing the next two kids into the world. She was undeterred, however; through every heartbreak, she found the strength to keep trying. She read more books, she talked to doctors, she discovered the Internet along the way. She asked questions. She got answers.

We now have three fantastic children. Not one of them has spent a second in day care. Every one of them is learning what they need to learn to be outstanding members of society, and they're doing so because their mother cares enough to make it her responsibility to see to it that happens. And when The Wife makes something her responsiblity, it happens, whatever "it" is.

Brief interlude from the Old Daughter ... she made her mom a poster for her birthday that reads (unedited) as follows:
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR MOMMY!
Here is 5 reasons why you should be happy about 'getting old' as you call it
1. You get to see new things
2. You wouldn't want time to stand still, would you?
3. You'd get to see your grandchildren.
4. You would see your children grow up.
5. Just because you should!
Here are 3 reasons you get older ...
1. Because you do
2. Because it just happens
3. Because you're a human being.
So be happy about being 33!"

Let's be honest here: If it were up to me, I probably wouldn't change a light bulb until every bulb in the house had burned out. The Wife doesn't operate that way. Problem? Solve it. Challenge? Meet it. Rule? Break it, if necessary. That's what she's teaching our children (well, all but the last part.) That's what she's taught me.

Brief interlude from the past ...
When The Wife was in college, she found herself in a required math class. She's just as mathematically challenged as anybody, and more so than most. She was already figuring her grade-point average as if she was getting a "D" in that class. Being pre-demoralized, she decided to change the course of the future. She stayed after class, she did her homework, she badgered the professor when she got stuck.

Her reward at the end of the semester: A big, shining "A."

Don't tell me she can't do anything she wants to.

Everybody who meets my wife comes away from that meeting a better person. I sure as hell did. I'm proud to know her, and I'm not sure what I did to earn the privilege of growing old with her.