Happy Birthday Steph.

Stephanie knows I don’t really like this blog thing she does. But since it is her birthday, I thought she would be surprised if I left a comment. She enjoyed the lists posted by our sister in laws where they described things about themselves. She then asked what things I thought she would say about herself. I don’t know, but I will tell you some things I love about her.

She is happy. She has some big mood swings up and down but generally she is happy. When I come home from work after dealing with people who are very serious, I sometimes open the door and see her doing crazy things like clogging and clapping with a giant smile and sparkling eyes when there is no music playing. Suddenly the world seems less serious.

She is a loyal friend. Stephanie has had some good friends in her life. She stays in contact with most of them. She assumes the best of her friends actions and will do all she can to help them. I am grateful to be one of those friends.
She is without guile. We all know she can’t lie. But it is very painful to her to be deceiving in any way. She gets visibly nervous and unsettled. Don’t ask her to be the one to lure another to a place for a surprise party.

She lifts others up. She truly wants others to succeed and be happy. She doesn’t cut others down and can’t stand to be in the middle of personal conflicts of others. She just wants everyone to be happy and have a good time. Sometimes I think if she was raised by a less structured family she might have been a cross between a high achiever and a hippy. I know that doesn’t make sense, but I can’t think of another way to describe this part of personality right now.

She is a strong person. She does not like conflict and is perfectly content letting someone else take charge most of the time. However, if the situation involves something important to her she can take control of the situation without panicking. She can also become feisty if needed (she gets feisty in sports sometimes when not needed). This surprises some people who don’t really know her that well. I am lucky to have seen several examples of this. One of the most recent is when a man had stopped breathing and his heart had stopped. Once she realized no one else quite knew what to do, I watched her calmly and politely take control and got some help from others to perform cpr. For the next several days people kept telling me how impressed they were with the way she handled herself and the situation. I know she has done this type of thing countless times at work but I enjoyed seeing it for myself. I can see my sister in law nurses doing the same thing.
She is smart. Stephanie was somewhat of a perfectionist at school. This was good for me because she had scholarships at byu which saved us money. It was frustrating when she would ask me for help in classes like physics and math, and then get a higher score on the tests. She can memorize anything and she rarely makes mental mistakes when accomplishing a task.
She has a kind heart and is a good Christian. I am thankful for her nudges and reminders when I slack on my responsibility in areas like family home evening, family scripture study, and going to the temple. She doesn’t make correct choices to appear righteous. She does good things just because of the way she is. She is sincere. She is by nature not critical or judgmental of others. I picture heaven being full of people like this.

She is a great mother. She focuses all of these talents she has on our children. I hope they grow up to be like her.

I am sure she will disagree with some of the things I have said, but she tends to look for her faults rather that her positive attributes.

I hope you have a happy birthday. I love and admire you.

Dave