Is this Disneyland?

Today I just want to say, "how thankful I am for the girl who has made my dreams come true"!

Cheesy, huh? Sorry. Gonna say it anyway because 1) it's true 2) it's my blog and 3) everyone who knows me knows it's true, anyway.

Life hasn't been Disneyland. Disneyland isn't heaven, anyway. Ever been there with 3 young kids, on a crowded, hot day when your favorite rides have broken down but you had paid 3 months rent just to get in the gate so there's no dang way you are going home until the thing shuts down.

No there's plenty of reality in the land of the Magic Castle.

Nevertheless, Disneyland has a way of lifting you above the mundaneness of the world around you and creating an alternate reality in the midst of the doctor bills and car repairs. It's this ability that I refer to when I speak of my wife, Deb.

She specializes in what she calls "The Delight Factor"...I call it Disneyland. Her ability to take the ordinary and infuse it with some magic is extraordinary. She has a strength on the Clifton's Strength Inventory called Maximizer. I have it too, but for me it just manifests itself by making me drive too fast.

But for Deb, her "Maximizer" causes her to create "magic" in the midst of the minutiae. Example: I will throw some lettuce on a plate, splash it with Thousand Island (shouldn't it be Thousand Islands, plural?) and call it a salad.

Not Deb. In only a little longer time than it takes me to make my salad, she will whip up a 17 ingredient salad masterpiece, fit for a magazine cover...then offers some to me. Magic.

Deb worked at Disneyland when she was in college. She scooped ice cream making the dreams of boys and girls come true. She still scooping out ice cream but has added wisdom, truth, love, courage, and comfort to what she serves.

I've been in love with other women (a long time ago in a far away land) but God gave me Disneyland Deb and she's been creating Magic in our little kingdom for the past 36 years!

(She's away leading a women's retreat for a whole bunch of ladies...they are getting a little Disney I'm sure).