Husband, I’d choose you every time, you know.

If I was first captain standing on the line in gym class, and you were one in a sea of eager faces waiting to be picked . . . I would choose you.

We just work. We fit. We make the very best team, you and I.

Tonight after an especially long bedtime with two grumpy toddlers who refused to go to sleep, I was running on empty. I walked into the living room prepared to collapse on the couch, but before I could even find the cushion, there you were, offering me a glass of wine and an understanding smile. It reminded me that you, out of all 7 billion people in the world, were made to do this life thing with me.

There’s no one I’d rather laugh with, when we’re at the dinner table and one of our kids makes an innocently inappropriate comment.

There’s no one I’d rather be proud with, as we listen to our son recite the ABCs that he has been working so gosh darn hard to master.

There’s no one I’d rather cry with, when life throws an unwelcome curveball.

There’s no one I’d rather tag in on a hopelessly long night spent with a fussy newborn, leaving us to take shifts if either of us is going to get any rest.

We play off each other, often knowing what the other one needs without speaking a word.

You make dinner on the nights I don’t have the energy.

I let you relax in your recliner when you walk in from a long day at work.

You bring the groceries in from the car and I put them away.

I stay up caring for little night owls, and you wake up early to pour bowls full of cereal while I sleep in and recharge.

We dream together and make all of our most important decisions as one.

There are times when I tell the kids “no” and they slyly try to sneak the same request by you, hoping for a different answer. Without fail, you reply, “Whatever your mom says goes; I’m on her side,” and I know without a single doubt that you always are. You always have my back.

We’ve worked so hard to reach this level of teamwork. It’s taken years of practice, with a lifetime of learning left to go.

Sometimes we’re winning championships, and sometimes we find ourselves in the middle of a losing streak, but we never stop showing up. We never stop playing the game. We never storm into the locker room to hang up our jerseys.

We huddle up, make a new game plan, and step back onto the field side-by-side. No matter what comes our way, we handle it together.

Because like I said, we make the very best team.

And I want you to know, sweet husband, that in this life—in the parenting, in the marriage, and in the simply existing—you will always be my MVP.

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