When we first started dating, we wrote each other stories.

They were kind of our way of introducing the vast lives we’d had before we met. And some of the stories were emo, drunken ramblings. Some of them were .. ahem .. adult in nature.

(Sidenote: this is why I feel I can rightly say that this 50 Shades of Grey book is pure bunk. Women, it’s OKAY to like erotica. It’s okay to like 50 Shades of Grey. There is some damn good erotica out there. DO NOT BELIEVE THAT THIS SERIES IS THE PENULTIMATE, BECAUSE IT IS NOT. As a published and award-winning author of erotica, I am angered at this being labeled “mommy porn”, as if we must be dumbed-down or sugar-coated. BITE ME, MEDIA.)

Um. Sorry. This is about Bryan.

Damn, I got all fired up about that erotica bit that I forgot where I was going.

One of the reasons I love being married to Bryan: I have these tangents all the time and he never .. well, maybe, rarely .. gets upset about them.

The biggest reason I love being married to Bryan: HE MAKES ME LAUGH.

You know how you have a night out with your friends and you come home, all woozy and satiated with love and your sides hurt from all the laughing? It’s like living with that. 24/7. It’s pretty amazing, truth be told. It’s a safe bet that at least twice a week, there has been some point where I’ve crammed my knees together to keep from peeing on myself from laughing so hard, or he’s gone into a wheezing fit where he can’t catch his breath for the laughter. It’s commonplace here.

Kids learn what they live. Our kids take Bryan’s good-nature to a new level. Big belly laughs echo through our tiny house. Our tiny house seems at once too small and yet cavernous; filled to the brim with both love and laughter. We all take our ribbings, we give them as well, but we are quick to hug. Slow to anger. Because that’s Bryan.

The hottest men out there are hot because they believe that you cannot be too silly. You may question that, but I give you Jon Hamm as my defense. Also Jake Gyllenhal. My new crush, Ryan Gosling. They all believe that being light-hearted and goofy make you a better person. AND THEY ARE RIGHT.

No one who knows Bryan would honestly believe he’s turning 40 this weekend, because this is a guy who still wants pancakes for breakfast, who hides toys in sexual positions inside your cabinets, who watches anime. He is still SUCH a kid.

And he keeps me young for it.

So here’s to my young old man, who is running his first 5k on his birthday to commemorate aging gracefully – or not at all. I love him more than my luggage, and boy howdy, does he make my parachute yellow. Happy Birthday, Bryan. Good times.

1. All the boys on the couch., 2. He Rocks an Infantile Hat., 3. The Comer Boys, 4. Always Performing, That One., 5. IMG_4592.JPG, 6. IMG_2378, 7. Cooking in the Rain, 8. 2011-01-17 21.03.52, 9. Getting old? HATED IT., 10. Bryan believes 2012 is “the year of the duck lips”. Yeah, cause 2011 was lacking., 11. Dude has to show me up in EVERYTHING., 12. 11/Twenty, 13. IMG_2173, 14. I Wish This was Staged., 15. Multimedia message, 16. 2011-04-29 18.01.48, 17. 12/Twenty Eight, 18. 3/Twenty Two, 19. 3962193105_59cb464b97, 20. 4/Eleven, 21. READY TO GET COLORFUL!, 22. One word: UNLESS., 23. 5/Three, 24. HAPPY VALENTINES DAY! Love, Gonzo Does American Horror Story, 25. He Be So Hott.