Since He Never Calls Attention to Himself, Today I'll Do It For Him

Today is my husband's birthday.  Joel is not a person who calls attention to himself.  No, he's more of a behind-the-scenes, down-to-earth kind of a guy.  Even when circumstances elevate him into the spotlight, he shrugs and remains cool.  Because he's cool like that. 

There's a slew of adjectives that could be applied to his temperament and character.  He's solid, stable, and steady.  He's grounded and consistent.  (These traits play well with my charming tendency to overanalyze and emote.) 

He loves golf, college football, landscaping, and growing things, even if he dislikes cutting the grass.  He's disarmingly funny.  He's quiet, yet personable.  He mentors people just by living life alongside of them.

And tonight, he's going to spend the evening of his birthday sitting on a metal folding chair in a warm elementary school auditorium to attend our middle daughter's fourth-grade band concert, an event that our oldest daughter has begged, on multiple occasions, to be exempt from with adolescent "please-don't-make me-sit-through-that" pleas.

And Joel smiles and says, "We're all going. Team Kramer."  (And when she groans because we won't budge on our insistence to cruelly expose her to a concert featuring undertrained nine-and-ten-year-old musicians, he whispers, "It's okay.  We're all taking one for the team with this.")

That's the kind of dad he is.  That's the kind of man he is.

Happy birthday, Joel Kramer.  You are the best.