my husband’s {A}rt

we had only been married a couple of years. kelsey was just a baby…only a few months old. at the time we rented a tiny, two-bedroom house and shared one car.  on most days, tripp would take the car to work in the morning.  but on days when i needed to run errands, he would come home at lunch and i would then take him back to work and pick him up in the evening.  barely making ends meet was an understatement.

that summer was a miserable one – even by oklahoma’s standards. we broke all kinds of heat records that year, and to make matters worse, our tiny rent-house had only one window unit to cool the entire house. all day and all night that decrepit a/c unit would rumble on, barely keeping the house cooler than 85 degrees.

one night, as tripp and i lay in bed – fans whirring in every doorway trying to keep the ‘cool’ air moving through the house – tripp mentioned how nice it would be to get out of town for a few days. maybe go to the mountains for some cool, fresh air.  of course given the oppressive Oklahoma summer heat, that sounded like heaven. the only problem was how to pay for it.

the thing about tripp is that, once he gets something in his head, he will find a way to make it happen. it just so happened that a traveling gun show was making its way through town and it just so happened that tripp had an old shotgun that he wasn’t using.  so early on a saturday morning in august, he drove to the gun show and came home with $400. we then packed up our jeep and headed for red river, new mexico.

we spent five, refreshing days in a little wooden cabin.  we slept in (dear kelsey, thank you for always being such a good sleeper) and explored the area. we cooked our meals on the mini stove in the kitchenette and watched old movies on tv.  nothing we weren’t already doing at home. but it was just so nice to get away.

this would be the first of many wonderful family vacations that the three of us would take.

tripp loves to travel.  he loves to dream and scheme, whether it’s researching exotic places or weekend adventures.  his two favorite websites are vrbo and tripadvisor.

but tripp’s adventurous spirit is not just reserved for his love of travel…tripp is a bold adventurer in life as well.  a fearless leader with a passion for blazing new trails, tripp has an inner confidence that drives him to explore new opportunities and search for creative solutions to problems – whether it’s how to succeed in business or how to pay for a family vacation.

this is my husband’s {A}rt.

tripp has taught me so much about what it means to expand my horizons – in every sense of the word.  thanks to my husband’s wanderlust, I’ve been halfway around the world and seen some of the most beautiful places on earth. and today as we celebrate tripp’s birthday, i am so grateful to the opportunity to be his companion in this great adventure that is our life together.

happy birthday dear. i love you so very much.