News

Good blog posts should be a lot of things. They should be pithy and insightful, engaging and delightful, interesting and thought-provoking, whimsical, and spiteful. In all, though, they should be revealing.

I could read a thousand blogs before I came across one that did anything to tell me Why. Any blog can tell you What. Why is a much more elusive subject. I'm treating this post as an exercise in writing about Why and What. First, I'd like to write about Why.

Jen Rose is the best reason I have in this world for doing the best I can at everything. She inspires me to try just a little harder, because there is no greater reward to me than her smiling confidence that I am wonderful. Heaven forbid she finds out the truth. :) Still, as unfocused as I am with my life and what I'd like to do with it, she provides me with constant support and affection. These things might not steer the ship, but they sure as hell keep wind in the sails.

When I met her in college, I really didn't know what to make of her. She was tomboy-ish, but no less feminine for it. She was brilliant, but approachable. She cared. She graduated ahead of me, yet she didn't do what so many of us do when we change our titles from "Student" to "Alumnus" -- she stayed in touch. She would write in her journal, send emails, and visit often, despite living hundreds of miles away. I once considered her as a long shot to ever date me at all.

Especially after she dated my roommate, and especially after she moved away.

Ah, but time spins on, and I met her again for the first time last spring in Houghton, Michigan, of all places. She went up there to see me. She traveled all that way to take extremely cold showers, help with a Brothers Retreat, and spend time with me. That last part astounds me. She has no definition for "too far" when it comes to being with the people for whom she cares. She has worked so hard to keep our long-distance relationship running. Harder than me, that's for sure. I can't keep up with her. Despite getting no sleep, commuting in obscene traffic, dealing with four cats and two dogs, and working for the grand-daddy of all bureaucracies in the Federal Government, she still found the energy to date a lonely, self-pitying Roanoker afraid to leave home.

Why she is all these amazing things and Why she would choose me are both mysteries to me. Why a good-looking gal would get caught up in a relationship with me is beyond me.

But ultimately, that's Why I asked her to marry me.

And that's What I'm writing about.

You'll have to ask her Why she said yes.