January 11

Nathan,

Remember when we used to take time (have time) to write lovely notes to one another on fancy paper?  Remember when we used to sit down and envision one anthers faces as we wrote down the thoughts that came to mind?  Now that we are farming full time and together always the envisioning of one anthers faces are no longer necessary-because here we are-together.  But in the busyness of the everyday I realize that I seldom take the time to thank you for you who you are and what you do and what you give to your family and your community.  I want to take a moment to do that now.

I love you.  I love you for taking life seriously enough to become a man of dignity.  To take maturity seriously and step into the responsibility that means more work and more pain and more heart and more sacrifice.  Thank you for being a strong enough man to allow your woman to follow her passions in life.  Thank you for seeing me as your equal rather than less.  Thank you for sacrificing your time, your desires, your hobbies to spend more time with your children.  Thank you for taking time to teach your son and daughters-really teach them-the skills they need to become mature, successful, responsible, compassionate adults.  Thank you for taking time out of your life to sit down and think about how to do that well.

Thank you for believing that I am beautiful.  I see it in your eyes-you don’t just say I’m beautiful-you believe it.  Thank you for that.  Thank you for taking all of me-my past, my hurts, my tragedies-and loving me in ways that no one has ever loved me.  Thank you for learning to listen and be present while I learned to trust and be more passionate.  Thank you for taking all of this life-your wife, your kids, your responsibilities-and having the willingness to take on more.  Thank you for what you do for our farmers market family and for the beginning farmers who want to learn more and for the many people who call on you daily for advice and support.  You make me and this world a better place and I love you more than you will ever know for it.

Much love,

Michelle