I'm Proud of Him

Last year, Angel backed down our driveway, straight into a parked car belonging to my Grandpa. The first words out of my mouth, after staring in shock and wondering how can you get into a car accident in your own driveway, were, "I love you. I'm proud of you."

This picture was taken the same day as that car incident. Turns out, my own car broke a belt later that day and we had to get a tow truck.

I have to admit...I've memorized such phrases and have used them as a mechanism to prevent myself from lashing out and saying something hurtful during the worst of times. In moments like those, I'm trying my darndest not to unleash perfectionist me onto my poor husband and I'm also reminding myself that, in fact, I do love him and I am proud of him. I'm pretty sure I said those same exact words when he forgot his wallet on our way to Texas. Or when he locked our keys in the car when we were on a date.

In all honestly, I'm not terribly proud of Angel for those specific events....because I am aware that they are not his most brilliant moments. But I am proud of my husband, for many other reasons.

I'm proud of the fact that he got his bachelor's degree, and I'm proud of him for going back to school for his master's.

I'm proud of his decision to "be practical" and pursue a degree in nursing rather than in philosophy.

I'm proud when I hear him switch instantly from speaking English with me to speaking Spanish with the butcher we buy our meat from, or with family members he's speaking to on the phone. Effortless bilingualism intrigues me, and in my opinion, is something to be proud of.

I'm proud when I hear him talking theology with or giving career advice to his younger brother on the phone.

I'm proud when he fixes our cars all by himself. Okay, sometimes with the help of Google.

 I'm proud of the fact that he left the country and traveled all alone to come to the other side of the world to meet my family for the very first time, meet all my friends, and propose to me. Talk about bravery.

And you know what, I'm proud to be married to a good-looking man! It might not be the most important characteristic of a person, but it sure is nice to be able to say, "Yeah, I'm with him."

So, yeah, I'm proud that he's my husband. And when he achieves something awesome, I'm going to make sure everybody knows it. And when he does make a mistake, I'm not going to be harsh on him. To me, that's part of what you sign up for when you get married--when you're down and out, when you know that you did something stupid....I promise that I'm not going to rub it in and make you feel worse than you already feel. We're in this together, we're doing life together, and while sometimes I might need to grit my teeth to say it...I'll always say: I'm proud of you, Angel.