Happy nine year anniversary, Baby Doll! Can you believe it has been nine years since we first hooked up? You gave me a note that said, “I think I might be falling for you, and I like it. If I ask, will you be mine?” And then I called you when I got home from school immediately to say “yes” a hundred times. And it’s still a hundred times “yes.” I loven you, Baby Doll. You’re the greatest! I can’t wait to get home and fix dinner with you, curl up with you to watch a movie and get my husband-man all to myself. We’ve been together a third of our lives, and here’s to spending the rest of our lives together. My tribute to my silly-headed moo-man:

1. His shining blue eyes
2. How my art supplies become his and his become mine
3. His confidence and humbleness about his art projects
4. The long conversations we have
5. The fact that we have similar taste in foods and restaurants
6. How he sometimes falls asleep in the tub
7. How he just randomly has too much energy
8. His facial hair–whatever it may be at the moment
9. How he knows so much about the Marvel world even though I don’t read it
10. How much he has come to be friends with my friends
11. That his favorite colors are my favorite colors
12. That he enjoys reading
13. How he came to my rescue during my junior prom
14. His soft, sometimes spiky hair
15. His warmth next to me in bed
16. The way his lips curl up when he’s laughing really hard
17. How he loves to work on the webpages
18. His sarcasm
19. How he grins and laughs when he tells me what I said in my sleep
20. His knock-knees and how he compensates for them
21. How he will drop what he’s doing to get me a drink
22. His logical and coherent way of explaining math problems
23. How he helps me beat my video games
24. His beautiful singing voice
25. How he curls up next to me on the couch while I’m doing homework or grading or playing on the computer
26. That he introduced me to so many on-line comics
27. How he hates birthdays but always celebrates mine anyway
28. His intelligence
29. How he didn’t mind that the Christmas tree was up until yesterday when he took it down
30. His love for his blue and green comforter
31. His weird predilection for mob movies
32. How he loves me despite all my many quirks
33. His cute butt
34. How he has supported me all these years through my education
35. The cheesy grin he gives me when he’s said something goofy
36. That he’s so comfortable with his heterosexuality that he can pretend to be gay
37. His confidence when driving
38. How he surprises me with random gifts
39. How he tolerates my thirty-ish phobias
40. His cynicism
41. How much he cares about his best friend Damien
42. How he puts up with my rambling
43. That he accepts my randomness even when I’m making his brain hurt
44. How we used to set fire to all the colognes he used to get for Christmas
45. His ears
46. How he can touch my broken computer and make it all better again
47. How he explains computer stuff to me in a way I understand
48. How he gets along so well with my little brother Simon and makes him feel at home
49. His occasional morbidness
50. How internet savvy he is even if he doesn’t think so
51. How sometimes he can be an ass but he’s still cute when he’s doing it
52. How he never lets my “confusion mind ray” deter him from loving me
53. That he’s actually taller than he looks because of how he stands
54. How he took three years of Spanish and remembers enough to answer some questions I have about it
55. His massages
56. How he’s not a religious kook bent on getting me to believe in a god
57. His rules of logic
58. His sporadic cleaning sprees
59. His omelettes
60. The way he studies for tests while in the tub
61. How he randomly quotes cartoons at me
62. How cuddly he is
63. How his taste in movies is really close to mine
64. His love for Kevin Smith movies
65. His random recipes like spaghetti and scrambled eggs
66. All the romantic things he says like, “You’s a silly-headed wooman”
67. His snoring
68. How he’ll try my 70 types of tea even if he’s not much of a tea drinker
69. His lack of fear of ladders
70. His family is awesome and makes me feel welcome
71. How he says he can’t paint but ends up actually doing fairly well
72. How he makes me laugh
73. His hugs
74. How he does dishes even though he hates it only because he knows I hate it more
75. How he’s always flipping me off
76. His eclectic taste in music
77. How he randomly attacks people and body slams them
78. How he wrinkles his nose at me
79. How he rides the elliptical like he’s trying to break a record…or the bike
80. How he’s indifferent to the ocean too and doesn’t want to live next to one either
81. How he hops around when he’s hyper
82. How he blows kisses at me from all over the house
83. How he can fall asleep anywhere
84. His art
85. That he loves my family and gets along with them
86. His love for Mello Yello
87. How he encourages me to experiment with cooking
88. How he pops my back
89. How we fit together like puzzle pieces when we’re next to each other
90. All the cute faces he makes
91. How his DnD characters are mostly average but have their moments of glory
92. His innocent smiles when I know better
93. His nocturnal lifestyle
94. That he doesn’t drink alcohol and sticks to that conviction
95. How cute he is when he torments me
96. How he plays with Kitty
97. How he reminds me to do my homework or grade papers
98. That he lets me ramble on about work even when he doesn’t know those people
99. Playing EQ with him
100. The fact that he has been mine for nine years and will be mine for the rest of our lives