(I won’t spill the beans, but if you’ve read any of my past “happy birthday” posts (2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, & 2016) you can figure out how old Derrick is turning tomorrow! I’ll give you a hint: it’s old – and he’s literally on the edge of being REALLY old!)
Have you ever hiked up a mountain (or just somewhere kind of high) and then walked out to the edge in order to look over? I’m specifically thinking of when we went to the Grand Canyon last year – we’d climb a bunch of rocks and then in certain spots, you could walk right up to the edge and look out and over and down.
That’s kind of what this birthday feels like.
Tomorrow is Derrick’s birthday and while we’re not quite to a milestone year, it’s literally right around the corner.
And I couldn’t imagine celebrating life with anyone else.
This is the 17th birthday in a row I’ve had the privilege of celebrating with my favorite person. The first year, we hadn’t even known each other for a full month yet – so we were still very much in the “getting to know each other” phase of chatting (those emails are always fun to look back on!) but we blinked twice and somehow, we’re here 17 years later.
And when I say, “I have the privilege” of celebrating my husband, I really do mean it – because this guy never ceases to amaze me. He works so hard for our family – he is well known within the company he works for (all the “big-wigs” know him) and that’s because he’s made himself to be the expert at what he does. He’s GOOD at his job and constantly striving to learn and grow and be better (it’s amazing to watch play out, because when he took this position a few years back, he was so unsure of what he was taking on, and now he’s the one everyone calls when there’s a problem).
But he doesn’t just work hard at his “real job” but he works SO HARD on his “side hustle” of making roller coaster content! He’s constantly brimming with ideas and new things he wants to try, videos he wants to make – he has to be the most dedicated creative out there (because the YouTube, content creation industry is a ROLLER COASTER, that’s for sure!) Between nasty comment trolls, the algorithm not always playing nice and showing his videos to the masses – it’s definitely a lot to navigate. But he does it because he loves it, and even though YouTube doesn’t always love him back, he still loves it.
But you know what else? He always washes the dishes after dinner.
He’s never too busy or too rushed to step in and help clean up – and that little action of love means more to me than anything else.
He always says yes to pushing Leander on the swing (even though the kid knows how to pump his feet and swing by himself).
He always says yes to watching Braelynn ride her bike.
He always says yes to playing catch with Leander before bed (one of their new bedtime routines).
He always says yes to Braelynn asking him to take them out for ice cream.
No matter what he’s doing, he always has time for US and that’s the magic, right there.
I could go on and on – he truly is a remarkable, very special guy, and I’m honored to call him my own and celebrate him this week.
Happy birthday, Derrick!
Love, Kara
PS – if you’d like to give Derrick a little birthday present, it’s really easy to do so! Visit his Instagram account and his YouTube channel & subscribe to both – that will make his day!
