If you are new to ManvDadhood, I want to start by saying welcome, and thank you for stopping by. I hope you will continue to stop by in the month of August while I post a collection of definitive posts that will truly give you a clear picture of who I am, and what I’ve come through in the short time I’ve been blogging.
Enjoy!
One In a Million… Aaliyah
The other day while listening to a Pandora playlist, an Aaliyah song came on and it was extremely nostalgic to me. I told the Wife that it gave me a 
very vivid memory of sitting at my desk in my room in high school and reading a brand new comic book with just the lamp on my desk on and the radio playing in the back ground. For her, she said, it reminded her of when we hung out for a full Summer because it was soon after Aaliyah died and they were laying all her music on the radio.
This took us back to some very calm and simpler moments in our lives; one of which was a starting point to our relationship. For a few moments, we danced to the sounds of that song and the memories in our heads, and ignored the two kids running amuck around us. For a moment, we were college sweethearts again. I remember the kid I was in high school and through college, and I think of the guy I’ve become. I remember the hopeless romantic I was, and how much my wife would love to have experience that side of me, and I wonder what happened to that blindly idealistic youth. Then, I remember the choices that killed that idealism, and how I buried the overly romantic in exchange for the persistent cynic.
Behind Every BIG Man…
Anyway, this wildly nostalgic song comes on, and we both remember our youth, and soon find ourselves acting like immature youths in love. I would like to say that it was the 10-pound lighter version of me I’ve been sporting, but even this baby-fat sporting version is still 30-pounds more than the version of me that was dancing in her head when that song came on. This post is not about losing weight, or external appearances, but the places our minds go when we think back to the uninhibited beginnings of our relationships.
I’ve heard this with old married people, and I’ve heard this from my wife; love me like in the beginning. I am going to post some pics on here, to let you know just how much a stagnant husband and dadhood effected me on the outside. What I didn’t know, is that it was effecting me internally. I knew I was not as attractive to my wife, and I knew that I was not healthy, but I had let go of those childish things of the past, and I had gained responsibilities and stress… not excess weight. I had become more to love, a big teddy bear. I had let the low expectations for my outward appearance effect the husband I as becoming, and the dad I could have been.
…Is a Kick-@ss Woman
I think it is fitting that the song that sparked this was “One In a Million” by Aaliyah, because that is how I feel about my wife. She loves me enough to kick me in my big butt when I need it, and still push me when I give her an attitude worthy of the Terrible Twos. Yes we have kids, and they can make it harder to be active, and they can make it harder to be romantic, but they are not an excuse. I am by no means fluent in romance, but if anything, I will do my best not to ruin a spontaneous romantic moment that we may stumble upon (but I still do with my smart mouth sometimes). I am not ripped, yet, but I’m getting myself healthier. The best things about me (for instance, my kids) are attributed to my wife. I NEED to figure out the right way to thank her, because flowers and chocolates just seem too cliche to be enough.
Where has your wife been a source of inspiration, encouragement, or butt-kickedness? How did you thank her for being that muse?
Comment below!
-JB
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very vivid memory of sitting at my desk in my room in high school and reading a brand new comic book with just the lamp on my desk on and the radio playing in the back ground. For her, she said, it reminded her of when we hung out for a full Summer because it was soon after Aaliyah died and they were laying all her music on the radio. 
