Love- Part lV

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As a woman and wife I loved the sides of Joe that I wrote about in my previous 3 posts. However I know that was not the side of him that most people saw. I also loooooved the "public" Joe too, which was every bit as real:

The guy that watched sports in every season. Baseball all spring and summer. Football on Sundays. Hockey all winter. He participated in fantasy leagues and liked to do up the hype for any big sporting event as much as the next guy (yes, we were once those people who bought a big screen tv in preparation for a big game). He snowboarded, played hockey, ice fished, snowmobiled, wakeboarded, played wiffle ball and was out on the field to help with Luke's team when he played t-ball. In other words, if there was a game going on, he was in.

He drank beer most nights (though didn't get drunk most nights) and liked to fall asleep on the couch, remote in hand, tv on a sport-any sport- with his arms folded. His baseball hat would always end up pulled way down until it was covering his face.

He took on many projects around our house. He had no experience in carpentry but always felt like he could figure it out and get it done. He had a tool belt and loved tools. He built decks for us, railings, patios, on and on. None of it was perfect, yet now, all of it is perfect.

He loved to mow the grass slow while drinking a beer or two.

He loved attention. Before we ever had kids I spent many a night sitting on a couch somewhere watching him stand in front of me singing into a broom stick- pretending he was Eddie Vedder- or whoever he was feeling like. He was so funny. Many of you have seen him do this...YOU KNOW ITS TRUE!!!

He loved his motorcycle. As much as it hurts, riding that bike was a true love of his, a true joy. I saw it in him.

He laughed out loud when he watched something on tv or heard a good joke. He'd often slap his leg if he thought something was really funny.

Of course, he loved music.

He was driven. He wanted MORE in life all the time.

He never owned a car as long as I knew him. I knew him for 12 years and he only ever had three vehicles- all pickup trucks. One was purchased less than a year before he died.

He loved to live. He enjoyed life.

When he ate his eye twitched open and closed slightly as his jaw chewed. I noticed this one of our first dates and teased him that his eye was somehow incorrectly wired to his jaw. He claimed he didn't know what I was talking about. The whole time we were married I used this incorrect wiring as my proof that it was really him and not an imposter.

When we went to Hawaii on our honeymoon he wore a shell necklace pretty much the whole time. He liked to participate.

He was in the process of trying to get me to skydive when he died.

He loved to pilot small airplanes but hated flying on jets.

He loved to gamble.

He was a great judge of character.

He was a risk taker.

He was not boastful about his business success.

He rarely ate sweets at home though I often heard of him eating stuff at work that I just couldn't even picture....whoopie pies, or shakes or whatever.

He hated cockroaches. They were his evil nemesis. If he was here right now I would see him scrunch up his face and move as if one crawled up his spine.

He liked to cook.

He was a great guy. He could light up a room simply by walking through the door.


I love you.
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