Personal Website and Blog of Anthony Mathenia, Outside the Camp

25 things I love about my wife Rebekah

I apologize in advance if you were expecting Part 2 of Suffering as Christian. In that article I will be talking about how “picking up our cross” might include tolerating a difficult marriage to honor Jesus’ teaching on divorce.

Being encouraged by a recent article by my sister in Christ, Sajithra, I wanted to stop-the-presses to rejoice in the marriage relationship my Father has given me with Rebekah. I present 25 things I love about her. Things that my heart feel warm and things that make me smile.

Rebekah, these are the things I treasure about you:

You are my one and only.
You enjoy WDW as much as I do. (Still treasure first time we ever road a monorail and you instantly “got it”.)
You have kept everything I have ever given you, no matter how trivial. (And that your “chest” would probably be the first thing you would grab in the event of a fire.)
I enjoy writing songs with you and listening to you sing.
It makes me smile that you still manage our finances with a pen and paper, long after we got our first computer.
Your obsessive-compulsive list making. (And the funny memories when the list was an epic-fail, such as the when we went to a District Convention and you forgot to pack my dress clothes.)
That you are not afraid to speak up when you believe strongly about something.
Your willingness to see things from “the other side”. (Even though this often annoys me, it brings good balance to the relationship.)
Our ever expanding ” book of quotes”. (Sometimes I smile when I think about someone finding it someday and wondering what kind of a weird dialect it is written in.)
That you have loved me since we were children. (And never stopped.)
Every concert we have ever been too and even now that I feel mature enough to sit in the balcony you still want to be down in the “pit”.
You tolerate the dumb movies I watch. (Particularly when you begrudgingly find yourself enjoying them with me.)
You stand by my side when no one else will.
You are willing to step out in faith.
You share my love of Pepsi and we have a mutual hatred for Coca-Cola.
Our awesome wedding that broke every JW convention of the day. (To this day I’m grateful that we weren’t married in a Kingdom Hall.)
Your fierce, fierce loyalty to her friends.
When “Dirty Dancing” is on TV, you will drop everything to sit down and watch it for the hundredth time.
Your self-sacrificing nature.
Watching you play games like Metal Gear Online.
The little things that still make me laugh. (i.e. raviolo)
Laying around listening to scratchy Carpenters albums together.
That you are a good mother.
That you are my BEST friend.
SAVING MY LIFE! Your willingness never to lose faith in me and the long nights spent praying for me when I couldn’t pray myself.