1. We will start with the obvious! He loves his grandkids fiercely. Living a life as a construction worker for 40+ years, he is rough around the edges. It is sometimes hard to deal with! But when it comes to the ones who call him PawPaw, he becomes mush! He will do anything for them! He will sit through 2 hours of a dance recital just to see his granddaughter take the stage for less than 2 minutes. He will spend time in the bathroom teaching his grandson how to poop in the potty. He will spend time watching youtube videos of the Floss so he is prepared in case he has to perform it at the daddy/daughter dance with granddaughter. He will play the dinosaur matching game for an hour because his grandson loves it! He will follow is granddaughter wherever she leads him by the finger. He will hold and cuddle his grandson even though he is a little afraid of babies! And he melts my heart and makes me love him even more every time he loves on them. The sparkle in his green eyes every time he talks about the "little snot nosed creatures" is 1000 watts!
2. The amount of pride and time he puts into his job and his IBEW brothers and sisters is amazing. Going from the trenches of the job to the office of the hall was a huge adjustment for him. One that he found to be challenging, but rewarding. One of the challenges was to be more politically correct. This was not easy for him. He was accustomed to a life of the locker room mentality, if you will, and now he has to be more aware and kinder in how he communicates things. We have lessons every now and then about what and how to say things. Another challenge was supporting his brothers and sisters in ways that he had no experience dealing with. But like any task before him, he educates himself on how best to assist them. He loves his union with the same passion he has for his grandchildren. It is that dedication and passion that makes me love him even more. His commitment to the IBEW and his job a business agent truly amazes me everyday. Any one who is willing to completely shift the paradigm box for others is an amazing person.
3. His is a great 60/40 kind of guy! I'll be honest! He is more of a housewife than I am. But he never complains that the amount of home responsibilities are not always even. By decades of experience, it is safe to call me a woman with a gasoline ass. I'm always on the go whether for school, grandkids or friends. I get it honestly from my momma! But Mark never complains about it. He pitches in does a majority of the day-to-day operations at home. He does the dishes and trash every night, the laundry and essential item shopping every week, and maintenance honey-do-list when he has time. He does it all without complaining. And I know there are times when he is so tired that he really doesn't want to do these things, but he still does. Most often it goes unnoticed by me because I'm either running in or out the door. It is often a thankless job for him. But it's for that reason that I love him even more!
4. His commitment to helping others really tugs at my heartstrings. He volunteers his time with charity work and never asks for any recognition. Actually, he gets a little annoyed with me when I point it out, but I really don't care. What he is doing to improve the lives of others is admirable and heartwarming. Over the last year or so he has been putting in an incredible amount of hours helping to build the Legacy Park in Hanover, Ohio. He is volunteering his time to wire the concession stand. This isn't an easy 2 week job and you walk away feeling good about yourself. This is a 2 year project that he's had dedicated 100s of hours to working on. What started as an union hall project has now turned into a one-person job. Due to the amount work and overtime, many people aren't available right now. Mark has taken it all in stride. He dedicates time each weekend working on the park whether it's there on site or at home reviewing plans and ordering materials. He's getting close to finishing the project. According to him, he's about 70% done. When it's over, I know he will be relieved. But I"m pretty sure he will be looking for another project to take on. Maybe not on such a grand scale, but it will be for a great cause. How does he know that all of this work has been worth it? Well, the grandkids call it PawPaw's Park because they know that he can't play with them some weekends because he's working at the park. When the weather is nice, they often ask if we can go to PawPaw's park. They love it there because it's fun. I love it because they get to visit him there and see him paying it forward. He is leading by example, and that makes my heart happy.
5. Lastly, his love for me is fierce and unconditional. When he asked me to marry him, I'm not sure he really understood how hard I can be to love. I am a lot of things: opinionated, hard to please, emotional, brutally honest, giving to a fault, and a loud, hardworking unicorn who is just trying to survive in a lion's world. To love me is exhausting work. But Mark has taken it all on with such amazing strength and undying love. He is willing to do so many things out of his comfort zone to understand me and to support me. He has really had to make changes to his life to fit into mine. Whether it is meditating with me each night, or volunteering his time for my various charities, or giving up football time to spend it with family, or learning to be kinder with his words, or traveling the world with me or praising me when I don't want to hear it, he has done most of it without complaint or pushing back. When I take the time to really think about it, I am in amazement that he has stuck around as he has. He's been asked to give up a lot and look at life differently, and I don't know if I can ever thank him enough for loving me the way he does. I can honestly say he is the first man in my life who I know loves with me for me, and he accepts me for who I am. That is rare, my friends. I am blessed.
So here is to you Mark Alan Mullett! In preparation for Valentine's Day which we will spend apart because you support me in all that I do and know I'll be out of the state, I say I love you! Thank you for being the man that I need even when I don't realize it! You rock baby! HMSB
Make Every Day Count
Denise
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