Happy Birthday Katrina
Katrina is my beautiful and amazing wife. You don’t see me write very much about here on here because she lives her life differently than I do. She’s not as public with her digital lifestyle. Yes, she reads Twitter, and she has a Flickr account, and a blog, and Facebook, and she does all kinds of really cool things with social media. But she’s not very public about it, so I don’t often mention how she interacts on a given day with me, my world, and the stuff she deals with.
But it’s her birthday, so for that, I want to just take some time and talk about Katrina.
We Met Online
First, I should point out that Katrina and I met online. I was in a weird place in my life, where I felt I was crazy and wrong (yes, I’m still crazy, but now I know I’m not wrong for being crazy). She was up in Canada, and I was down here in Massachusetts, trying to figure out where my life was going next. After some general friendship, we realized that we had a lot in common (well, music and a few things), and we started falling for each other.
Punks Together
We had lots of fun times in our dating, including messing around with music, and doing art projects together, and supporting each other’s various initiatives. Katrina does fabric and textile art, and she noodles with music as well. It’s cool when we have time to do art.
Mother
Though neither of us really had planned for a family life, we both fought our way into learning how to be parents. Kat’s so much better at it than me. She’s much more patient, has all of the tricks and skills of being a mom, and knows how to talk me and the kids off the ledge.
Kat and the kids play incredible games all the time. She keeps them entertained, fed, clothed (when they’re willing to wear clothes), and all around energized. With my Violette, who is a ball of fire and requires more than the average kid in the way of attention, handling, and coverage, I’d say that Katrina owns the space of “top shelf mom” without any heavy lifting. Harold? He’s easy cheesy, but he’s another human to chase around, so that counts for something too, dammit.
My Shield Bearer
I guess we all think of things from our own lens, and with regards to how Katrina fits into my world, I’ve said this a million times: Katrina does two things very well. She lifts me up when I’m feeling low, and she pops my bubble when I’m too egotistical. Kat GETS me. She understands every facet of my weirdness. She knows that I tell the worst jokes. She appreciates that I am a little greedy and selfish. She knows that I’m a handful and crazy and that I am not always the easiest guy to get along with.
Great Friend
People who are Katrina’s real friends are blessed. They know her to be caring, loving, fiercely loyal, protective, and very generous with her attention and friendship. They know her to be creative, funny, bright, and someone with a strong emotional intelligence.
Kat’s the opposite of me in friend making. She has a small, tight-knit group of friends, and that’s it. She doesn’t mind meeting new people, but rarely sees the need to be friends with them, as much as she’d rather be civil (at least from my perspective, that’s how it all plays out).
So I’m blessed that she’s my friend, too.
December Birthdays
Kat’s birthday is a week before Christmas. What a bummer that can be. Her family has always done a great job of celebrating that birthday as a very separate event. We try to do the same. (And here’s where I delete all the stuff I want to say about how December is for me, but that I try).
So Happy Birthday
I love you. For everything I do that makes you happy, I wish it could be a thousand fold. For everything I’ve ever done that’s made you sad, I’m sorry. For everything we can do together in the years to come, I look forward to it and am glad you’re with me.
Thank you. And happy birthday, Katrina.
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Comments
He’s a fortunate fellow that Chris. Happiest of Birthday’s to you Kat. And Chris…yes, Harold counts. :-)
Not public? Her first Seesmic post involved playing a rather beautiful song on a ukulele. That’s more public than I’ve ever gotten. :)
Tell her Seth said Happy Birthday!
Chris-
My wife Heather shares Katrina’s birthday. I hope you’ve found a way to make her birthday special with it’s close proximity to Christmas.
My wife has never been fond of her birthday day. Friends frequently aren’t around having traveled off to visit their family. As a child, relatives would lump Christmas gifts together with birthdays.
I always try to do something extra special for Heather’s birthday, although this year will be fairly quiet.
All the best to Katrina. Hope she has a great birthday.
Cheers,
Randy Stewart
Happy Birthday Katrina,
You are great … a wonderful person, a wonderful wife to our son, a wounderful mother to our grandchildren…
Happy Birthday,
Mom and Dad
Happy Birthday Katrina. Chris - a lovely post. You are very lucky people. Wishing you and yours a very happy holiday as well.
Cheers,
Stephanie
[…] Check it out! While looking through the blogosphere we stumbled on an interesting post today.Here’s a quick excerptWe had lots of fun times in our dating, including messing around with music, and doing art projects together, and supporting each other’s various initiatives. Katrina does fabric and textile art, and she noodles with music as well. … […]
Happy birthday to your wife then! It’s amazing how a relationship blossoms. This reminds me of something I heard on a tv show once. When asked how he and his wife have managed to stay together for 35 years, all he answered was that they “know and love together.”
What a genuinely nice post. Great reading.
(Not that I’m saying your other posts aren’t genuine and not great reading, nor am I leaving a generic spammy comment…*sigh*…stop digging)
JOYEUX ANNIVERSAIRE KATRINA!
What a beautiful, touching, cool and rocking love story.
Finally…people who are living happily ever after. Fairy tales really do come true, thanks for proving it. :-)
Big hugs to you both,
Mudd a.k.a. Oza
xoxo
Lemme at the very outset wish Katrina a Happy Birthday. My friend Susan shares Katrina’s birthday and she’s gonna celebrate it on Christmas eve, when the spirit of festivities is at its peak. I’ve really enjoyed your post — Happy Birthday Katrina. It’s so beautifully placed. I think you are really a one of a very few lucky persons in the world, to have a soul mate like Katrina with you. And you are the her best gift on her birthday.
That was lovely. I would enjoy meeting and getting to know her since it appears we are both “social media moms”.
Happy Birthday to you Katrina!
And yet no link love? The blog, the twitter account, the Seesmic video with ukulele?
How are we ever going to get her side of the story . . .
Happy Birthday Kat! My birthday is a week after Christmas, so I feel your pain- this is why we got married in August- any “holiday” date I could plan was going to be as far away from my birthday/Christmas as possible!
Never forget managing other people, even if they are small, is a challenging job, and doing it well takes great strength of character! Kat has that in spades!
Days behind on my blog reading, and so, I’m afraid, days behind on wishing you a belated happy birthday, Kat. We have so much admiration for you both.
Awwwwww! I can’t believe it took me this long to read your post Chris (I blame the jet lag).
Sooooooo sweet. And to think, when Kat first told me her on-line boyfriend was coming to Halifax, I told her there’s no way this potential-psycho-online-dating-freak was allowed to stay in our apartment.
My bad.
Kat - SUPER BIG HUG. (happy bday, merry xmas, happy new year, happy post-celebration blues…)
Chris - you da BOMB.
what I know: Chris talks about Kat in private and in public. And that’s integrity.
Happy Birthday, Kat. Thanks for sharing Chris with the rest of us (some of the time).