Thirty-Three=33

When I met this tall, dark, and handsome man fourteen years ago, I really didn't think about what he would be like when he was 33.  That seemed so old to me as a 17 year old.  Practically middle age.  Practically.  I wasn't really in tuned to reality then.  I'm not really in tune to reality now either, because I still feel like we're in our 20's.  So when we have a family party for the boys and our kids are blowing out the candles with the daddies, it's a little surreal.

We actually had a candle lighting ceremony a few times.  Someone didn't get enough candle action the first time around.  Just look at that little face.  Such injustices in life...

Of course Chunky Monkey got a do-over.  His pushy cousin, Daddy, and Uncle Stevie blew out the candles before he got to them.  All happiness was then restored at the camp, and all campers were happy.  It's important to have happy campers at a birthday party.  After all it wasn't his party so he couldn't cry if he wanted to.  At least that's what the song says.

Last week, I didn't take the time to do a tribute to my extraordinary husband, but I am today.  I'm going to give you 33 Facts O' Steven Torres.

1. He doesn't like to be called a loser.  Even if he really did lose.
2. He has a pretty good fashion sense, but every once in a while he puts something together and I think aliens must have abducted him and replaced his body.  Otherwise there is no explanation for why he thought his ensemble went together.
3. His co-workers give him a hard time for how many different pairs of shoes he wears to work.  The shoe fetish runs on his dad's side of the family.  Honest to goodness.
4. He cleans better than me when he gets going.  A real thorough deep cleaner.  Seriously detailed oriented.  It's amazing.
5. If he is in his cleaning mode, stay out of his way.  He gets an attitude.  Unless he's jamming out to old school hip hop.
6. One part of his job is teaching Defensive Driving to employees, but he has a pretty bad case of road rage.  It is very rare that we can drive somewhere and he doesn't shout names at other drivers.  It's fairly comical.
7. He is a gym rat.  Every lunch hour he races to the gym, puts the treadmill on the highest incline and fastest speed, and runs until he's out of time.  He even has other gym members stop to ask him about his workout habits.  Funny, no one has ever asked me...
8. He is a phenomenal father.  He can play Barbies just as well as he can play catch.
9. He's supportive of my crazy ideas.  Well, most of them.
10. He like to keep his yard manicured and weed free.  This past summer of multiple 100 degrees days was killing him.  Brown spots in the midst of green grass could send him to an irate state.  Very scary.
11. He is a person who is willing to change to better himself.
12. His work ethic is admirable.  I don't know too many people who put as much effort into their work like he does.
13. He snores when he's congested.  I count my blessings every night for that.  Especially after listening to my SIL describe his brother's snoring.  Not pretty.
14. He thinks it important to spend time together as a family over his own hobbies. 
15. Laughter is pretty important to him.  When he gets one of his deep belly laughs, you can't help but laugh with him.  Even if you are the butt of the joke.
16. He is a man of faith.
17. Most issues are black and white with him.  It's either right or wrong. 
18. He has a language all of his own.
19. Christmas is his all time favorite time of the year.  He could easily go 'Clark Griswold' on the house if he didn't have a conservative wife.
20. He will eat almost anything. His motto is, "Don't knock it, 'til you try it."  What I find completely strange is he doesn't really like cinnamon rolls.  I really don't know how we ended up together.
21. Chicago sports get his blood pumping.  The Bears, the Bulls, and the Cubbies are his absolute favorite teams.  At least 99.9% of his baseball caps don one of those teams.
22. When cooking, he measures out all ingredients exactly.  It drives him crazy that I 'eyeball' it.
23. He finds bodily functions absolutely hilarious. If you fart on accident around him, he's going to laugh.  Laugh, and laugh hard.
24. His body language screams louder than any words he could ever say. Even though he thinks he hides them well.
25. He's quite the looker, and gets better looking with age.  This is not the same for me.  One of these days people are going to think I'm a cougar.
26. He'll do the most ridiculous tasks just to make me happy.  Like get out of bed when he's almost asleep to get me a sip of water.
27. He's a crier.  A big strong man that knows how to let it out. This also runs in the family.
28. He was more excited about baby #3 than I was.  He loves his kiddos.
29. He's pretty responsible with his choices.  When he graduated college he asked for a lawn mower, weed eater, and edger knowing we were looking to purchase a house (we were getting married in 3 months).  That yard equipment is still running well keeping up with his yard expectations.
30. Clutter drives him crazy, yet his desk at work has papers haphardedly scattered.  He argues they are spread out while he's doing safety regulation research.
31. We can't drive by a construction site without him commenting on the safety violations.  We like to call him Safety Steve around here.
32. I have never questioned his devotion to me or his family. 
33. He sings in the shower (loudly) and LOVES to whistle.  I think his record is whistling God Bless America for over two hours.  I thought I was going to strangle him.  He thought it was funny.

There you have it.  Thirty-three things about my wonderfully, amazing husband.  I couldn't ask for a better life than the one I have with him.