Celebrating the Man Who Exceeds "The List"

My Knight in Shining Armor.  My Prince Charming. My best friend.  My husband.  This man turns 31 today.  The wedding of Prince William got me thinking about how it doesn’t really matter that the British royal family doesn’t have any real political power anymore or that the United States became a separate nation over 200 years ago.  Even here in America, we have tea parties with our daughters, read them stories about Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty and give them Snow White, Ariel and Belle dress up clothes.   It doesn’t surprise me at all that so many women were excited about an ordinary woman marrying a real prince and becoming a princess two weeks ago.  We wish for our "dream man" and imagine the perfect wedding and our very own happily ever after.  My wedding ceremony to my Prince Charming was not subject to a media storm.  We are merely “commoners” and commoners get married every day.  On the surface there was nothing news worthy about that. 

However, my prince (although not British royalty) deserves a public accolade.  On the day of Paul David Gabriel Bell’s 31^st birthday I would like to shout from the rooftops about this amazing man that I married.   Did you know our story began with a checklist of seventy (yes, 70) characteristics called "My Godly Man"??  That is what happens when you are seventeen and realize that things are easier if you keep boys in the “friend zone”.   At the time there were some who said that the list was unrealistic and that no one could be that perfect.  (As I recall, they were boys!)  The list made perfect sense to me when I wrote it.  Why settle for less than God’s best for me?  The same man who took a vacation day on Monday so that I could have a day to myself for Mother’s Day is the same man who I believed embodied every one of those character traits on that seemingly ridiculous list. 

This past weekend, as a happily married woman, I crawled up into the attic to find “the list” to see if I really was an unrealistic teen. And now, almost thirteen years after our first date, I can honestly say that having reread “the list” Paul Bell is still the man that I dreamed about, hoped for and trusted God to deliver (even if he prefers a sailboat over a gallant steed!).  I can’t imagine life with anyone else and I cherish and respect the husband and father that he is.  

Happy Birthday Paul!