Happy Birthday to My Favorite

With the start of March comes Troy's birthday. I think it's pretty likely that in the past 18 years (or so) of keeping a blog I've probably used this title before, but it remains true. Truer than ever in fact. He's my favorite and I'm the absolute luckiest wife in the world.

Besides Troy's birthday, we had some other interesting news happening in early March. As I think I have mentioned, Romney has not been a huge fan of college. She started out at UVU and had some good experiences her first year. The first semester of her 2nd year was cut short by the struggles she was having, and we brought her home. After that Christmas she started school again at Salt Lake Community College and ended up leaving that pathway as well. She just hasn't been happy and decided to just work for a while. Then, around Christmastime, she came to us to tell us that she had applied to The Violin Making School of America.

WOW.

Interestingly, Romney had talked about wanting to become a luthier (a person who makes stringed instruments) way back in grade school. Admittedly, I just smiled and nodded and thought, how cute! It felt the same to me as her saying she wanted to grow up to be a ballerina or a movie star or an astronaut. Well, some kids actually do grow up to be those things and I guess Romney is going to grow up to be her thing. She wasn't kidding when she was little. She went ahead and applied and got in and began plotting on all she needed to do to earn the money (it's on the pricey side). Troy and I are feeling this weird mix of hopeful and excited and scared and nervous and proud. It's a very interesting emotional stew. Mostly I'm proud. And I know Troy is too. You know how I know? Well, whose birthday did we celebrate? That would be Troy. But who opened a present? That would be...Romney. My sweet wonderful husband started looking into the tools used by luthiers and he surprised her by buying her a couple of the starter planes. Could he be any sweeter?

These photos just warm my heart. Here he is, surprising his daughter, and sending her the message that we believe in her.

Even now as I type this I've got a big grin on my face. I felt like it was a very Troy-birthday. He didn't really want anything for his birthday besides being with his family, eating Indian food (Mumbai House's butter chicken for the win!), and supporting his kids. 

See what I mean? I'm the luckiest wife ever. And happy birthday, Troy.