Got Your Back

I have just finished taking Mia on a field trip to the fire station with her class at school. They had fun! They watched the trucks go in and out, had a tour of the station, climbed through the truck and had a chance to spray the water hose.

It was really awesome that I was able to remind Mia of our friend Josh who is a firefighter when the man was all suited up and scary. It was absolutely fascinating to watch the transformation from normal guy to a Darth Vader-sounding fire-resistant clothed hulk.



One of the highlights of the trip was when they put the ladder up. We watched as they stabilized the truck by putting down anchors. Then the ladder extended up several stories and one fighter remained down at the controls while the other made the precarious climb to the very top and turned around and waved.

I pointed out the man at the bottom to Mia, saying, “See, that man at the top is where everyone is watching but he always, always has a partner who is helping him and watching his back.”

Out of the blue, as I was saying the words to Mia I was overcome with tears as the thought came – this is what a marriage should look like!

The stabilizing factor for the marriage should be our values – after watching the Bachelor I realize that values are different for different people!, but they should be the same for both partners. After that, you should always have someone who watches your back. In the partnership you are likely going to take turns being the one who tiptoes up into the rafters of danger and accomplishment, but the wonderful part is that you always have someone who is watching you and providing the directions and overall picture.

(I wasn’t even thinking of the movie Fireproof as I thought about this. Funny. Now I don’t feel so original.)



While they were retracting the ladder, Mia and I walked around the truck to where Mia’s teacher, Mrs. Hoelscher, was standing. She told me a funny story about her very pregnant neighbor climbing onto the roof of her house and then not trusting herself to navigate the ladder to get down. Instead, the woman patiently waited for her husband to come home, cheerfully waving to all the cars that passed by on the street below.

For some reason that story reminded me of the verse in Proverbs that says something along the lines of: It is better for a man to live on the corner of his roof than in a house with a contentious wife.

The two incidents happened so quickly that I found myself once again fighting back tears and overwhelmingly grateful for my husband, my partner, the man who watches my back.

Isaiah has put up with a lot from me in the past weeks – who am I kidding? In the past years that we’ve been married! - and I have never had cause to doubt that his intentions are pure and that I am blessed to be loved by him.

Last night I saw that someone on facebook had answered a question about me - “Would JJ rather have $1,000,000 or true love?” and that a student had responded, “That’s easy – she’d take Isaiah.”**

I hope I am open and honest with my love for my husband not only to other people, but to him. I know that I am the luckiest girl alive to have a man who is as constant, supportive, loving and intentionally good as Isaiah. He changes poopie diapers and cuts my toenails for me when my belly gets too big for me to reach my toes. He listens to me ramble, he dresses the girls almost every day. He’s willing to rearrange his schedule and life so that his family can be a priority.

In three pregnancies he’s missed one doctor’s appointment.



He’s not always the most vocal of all people in his momentary ponderings, but he’s far more than I ever expected to have from the man in my life – far more than I have ever deserved.

So here’s a shout out to Isaiah – the man who’s got my back. And my promise that I’ll always be watching his back, too.



** By the way... I don’t play games on facebook. I am always amused when someone tries to get me involved with Farm frenzy or whatnot... But in general I don’t like to play computer games and in particular I find facebook games kind of annoying. I’m neither fun nor friendly. I also don’t chat online to people on facebook. Other people don’t type fast enough. I’d rather talk on the phone and just stalk people’s status updates to find out what’s going on in their lives. So there. That’s my two cents of nastiness.


JJ