I have been married four full days, and full is an understatement. Since we’ve been in Kauai the fullness has fully thawed and I am overflowing. I am finding the comparison, the only one that seems remotely able to capture this experience, is heaven. I am in heaven. We are in heaven.Or so as I imagine it will be. My wife is sleeping on the couch next to me and I am having a hard time believing I am alive or that life could ever suck again. I know it can and I am not really in heaven… but God’s giving me a taste of it.

Our first day here, Heath and I met two older and delightful marrieds, Dick and Laurie. We grilled out with them tonight and they sang this amazing duet for us(with a little twisting of Laurie’s arm) about garbage men. Anyway, Dick had given us, more specifically me, some wisdom on what he has learned in his forty-four years of marriage. Which gets to the point of why I have started writing again in my blog:

My hopeful intent is to document wisdom I pick up as a husband, how to be a good married, and so forth. Maybe I’ll do this for a year, maybe less, maybe. I had this idea last night and it fit right in with my goals to be the best husband I can be for the love of my life, Heather.

OK, back to Dick. The first time we met he said, “I’ve got five words of wisdom for you as a newly wed: Don’t let your wife get too hungry. Yes, that’s more than five, but those are not trite words. I have known this about myself for a long time. I do get ornery when I need food.

Tonight Dick offered another proverb: Don’t be too critical. Yes! I am with him 100 percent! But I would go one step further: Don’t be too critical, but build her up, encourage her often. I want to do this. I want to be a good husband.