101 Reasons Why I Love SweetPea

1. She says "settin'". As in "Why are you just settin' there?"


2. She still remembers the combinations to M's locks from when we borrowed them from Harvest Festival


3. She's my own personal heater when we snuggle in bed at night


4. She shares lollipops and popsicles with the dog


5. She knows when her socks are on the wrong feet, even though she can't feel her feet


6. Her socks belong to specific feet


7. Waking her up is as easy as pulling back the blankets, and untucking all the pillows but


8. I think she often isn't actually "awake" until midway through her shower


9. She likes to watch the tear jerkers


10. And then gets mad when she cries


11. The way she uses the word "beholden" (i.e. correctly)


12. The way she has instigated the use of "beholden" in my own vocabulary (i.e. "pft.. whatever. I'm not beholden to these freaks.")


13. "Crick"


14. She knows that cake is a food group


15. But not a daily nutritional requirement


16. She sees nothing wrong with giving the kids donuts for dinner


17. "Over-the-shoulder-boulder-holders"


18. "Look at my hair!"


19. She believes that salami dipped in buttermilk ranch is an acceptable snack because "it's protein"


20. She can talk just about anybody into just about anything


21. She's my harbor


22. The faces she makes when she sees chubby little babies and chubby little baby toes


23. She sticks chubby baby toes in her mouth


24. She talks to Monkey See about "man stuff" without sounding creepy or weird


25. The way she pouts and says "shut up!" when I mention that Monkey Do looks like she has boobies in that one shirt


26. She answered the door naked


27. If I pat her ass and she doesn't realize it was me, she'll "chase her tail" trying to figure out what was touching her


28. Sometimes she does things just to make me laugh


29. She really did think waxing was like Nair


30. Boy, was that a shocker the way she found out!


31. She sends the straight boys to show me "the shocker" like they're a badass


32. Because she knows I'll correct them and show them the right way to do it


33. She never forgets that, when we're "out on the town", I can't go outside to smoke by myself


34. She makes friends where ever she goes


35. She finds someone she knows where ever she goes


36. She stuck her hand down LB's pants


37. Kitty!


38. She can make perfect strangers cry (in a good way)


39. She can make friends and loved ones cry (in a good way)


40. She's considered part of the crew at Mr. Pickle


41. She will ask the questions that everyone else is too polite to ask


42. She knows you're not done popping Monkey Do's back unless she's farted


43. She's a totally sappy, gooey, romantic person


44. She wasn't a "cat person" until we got Gimpy


45. "Shh! I'm trying to get my booty seep!"


46. She likes to tell people I robbed the cradle because that five whole months makes me so much older than her


47. "druthers"


48. The pink pigs


49. She's my Sunflower Girl


50. That time she nearly killed us passed a car on a two-lane highway and narrowly missed the oncoming semi


51. Two Little Girls


52. She always knows that if I've gotten too quiet, I'm probably not up to something... I'm probably asleep!


53. Sleeping Beauty Kisses


54. Movie Star Kisses


55. She loves the number five


56. Butterfly Kisses


57. She's obsessed with zombies


58. She never forgets to remind me that she wants her soda without ice


59. She named her dog Gomi even after she found out it meant garbage


60. She took care of Betelgeuse because she knew I couldn't


61. She reads the Archie's Digest Library


62. She's never said that she didn't believe we could make something happen


63. "Come to bed, SweetPea. You can twitter some more in the morning."


64. She's bionic


65. Mohawk


66. Died blue


67. "They did a really good job with such a small yard, didn't they?"


68. Notices the gloves in the road


69. Appreciates the beauty of the river canyons she crosses every single day on the way to work


70. She rock climbed naked in Yosemite


71. She always thinks I'm beautiful


72. She once hot-hosed the inside of a Burger King


73. Nakey Thanksgiving


74. She helped free a bear trapped in a hatchback


75. After she woke the car's owner up to let him know the good news


76. She set her own finger with a bike tool and hockey tape after dislocating it playing wheelchair basketball


77. She knows that, sometimes, the correct answer is "ice cream"


78. She's never said that she didn't think I could do something


79. Even though she sometimes rolls her eyes a little bit when I say something's funny about the car


80. She taught Issac to sign "poop"


81. She taught Monkey Do and our neice to throw the devil horns while hanging their tongue out


82. Decided that Gomi's command for "potty" should be "cheddar"


83. She wanted to do all of Gomi's commands in types of cheese


84. She still won't eat at Charlie's because it's no longer Oregano's


85. She can use a public restroom without physically touching a single surface, and, yet


86. She licked a statue


87. She believes the only art that should hang in our house is art we've created


88. She likes things that are palindromes


89. She's a voracious reader


90. She is currently boycotting three radio stations


91. She acts surprised even when she's not


92. She picks beer because there's tits on the bottle


93. She truly believes that people are really good at heart, even when all evidence is to the contrary


94. She doesn't just think outside the box. She shredded the box and started a compost pile


95. She names everything


96. She cries easily


97. She laughs often


98. She loves deeply


99. She understands you can still love someone even if you're mad at them or disappointed in them, or disagree with the choices they're making


100. She'll call you on your bullshit


101. She knows that sometimes it's time to walk away. And she knows that you have to be careful not to walk away too soon

And thirty-three years ago, today, at 10:36am, she was born into the world, the very first baby born in a tiny little hospital in Arcata.

And I couldn't be more thankful or blessed to have her in my life.

Happy Birthday, SweetPea.

How can you not love such a beautiful smile?