HACKED!

Ok, not really” hacked” per se, since I have her password saved on my computer from when I have to get into her drafts and proofread, but “HACKED!” just kinda grabs you by the collar, amirite?

This is Paige’s husband Cory, and today is Paige’s birthday.

You may remember me from the two or three times I’ve guest-posted for Paige. She told me last night that she’s been getting a massive number of visits to her blog every day lately, so this is the grandest forum that I have access to, and I can’t think of a better place to tell you a few things about Paige that she may not ever mention.

1. Paige commits.

As I was just writing about Paige maintaining this blog, the word that kept running through my mind was commitment. I’ve never known another person who committed to things as wholly as Paige. She committed to our marriage years before we were even married and we are only here now because of that. Before we found ONE Community Church and we were at our old church, Paige took seriously her commitment to that church and we didn’t give up on it until we had clear direction from God to do so. Paige decided a little over a year ago that she was going to write a blog and by George she’s written the crap out of it day and night since then. When we joined ONE CC, Paige made a commitment that she was going to serve the Lord, the church, and its people to the best of her ability and she hasn’t wavered yet, seeking out new opportunities constantly. When I asked her to go to Africa with me, she was relentless in her pursuit of support, organization, and action before, during, and after the trip. Paige is unwavering in her commitment to the things that are important to her, and it makes her a sure foundation for me to lean on.

2. Paige documents.

Paige loves blogging. Paige hates blogging. Blogging for Paige is at once a sweet release and a crushing frustration. What you as a visitor may not realize is that her dedication to this blog spills into every aspect of our life. She is constantly writing notes in her iPhone with either post ideas or notes on what’s going on around her so she can remember it accurately when she writes the post on it. She’s up all night sometimes making sure a post is up so she doesn’t let herself and her readers down by missing one. I can’t remember the last meal we had that a camera wasn’t present. I can’t remember the last time we went somewhere more exciting than Wal-Mart that photos weren’t taken. She takes photos of the dogs, of her feet, of trees, of clothes…the list goes on forever. This is profoundly frustrating for me. I would be perfectly happy if there was never another photo that featured me as its subject.

I recently discovered the app Timehop, and Monday morning I was lying in bed looking at the photos from four years ago that it had to show me. The photos were an album from our honeymoon, photos that I haven’t seen since she first posted them on Facebook in 2010. As I looked through the pictures I was thinking things like, “wow we look like babies!” and “holy smokes I forgot all about that!” and it hit me–I wouldn’t have a single one of those memories back if Paige hadn’t documented that trip. Every picture that I was so salty about having to pose for, every shot that I made a face is or fought tooth and nail because it inconvenienced or embarrassed me, every image that I had to look away from what I was doing or retake five times because hairs weren’t in the right spot or my hands were weird–every photo she took is a memory that I get to keep and eventually pass down because she sacrificed to capture it. How could I have been so ungrateful for her these past nine years?

Paige doesn’t write this blog for entertainment or out of boredom. Paige writes this blog to document our lives. The stories may be silly, or cute, or boring, or hilarious, or sad, or whatever, but they’re us, and it’s written down and it’s forever.

Thank you, Paige.

3. Paige loves.

Now I know that sentence sounds a little dumb and you’re like, “well duh”, but hear me out. When Paige loves something, it means everything. It is not easy for her to put herself into something new, try new things, or get attached to new people, so when she grabs hold of something or someone and it becomes something that she really loves, she loves it so hard that nothing will ever break that bond. She loves our dogs so hard that she cries when she just imagines something happening to them. She loves her family so hard that the thought of them or us moving away shatters her whole life plan. She loves me so hard that no matter how terribly I treat her, how inattentive I can be, or how insensitively I handle her, she is still a rock that seems to secretly adore all of my foolish qualities and shape me into something more.  It is devastating and terrifying to me to try to imagine a world in which I wasn’t loved by Paige Sloan, because the absence of that love would be so massive and cold.

See these are only three small things, three out of hundreds of things that I could talk about when it comes to my wife Paige. I have a bad habit of loudly joking about the things she does that drive me nuts (there are lots of those too!), especially in groups of people when we can point out the things that drive us nuts about our spouses in a more indirect way than shouting at them and everyone gets a big laugh. What I don’t do enough is loudly point out the things that I admire about my wife, that impress me, that amaze me, that keep me going every day when I want to just lay everything down. So this is just a small way of turning that around.

Paige is literally amazing, and you only learn that by getting to know her. We have been together for nine years, married for four, and I am still learning and peeling back layers every day that continually blow my mind. Just as I posted on her Facebook this morning, she is my truest best friend, my ministry partner, my traveling companion, and the love of my life. My life is made exciting and rich by her love.

Happy Birthday, Paige, and thank you for letting me be part of it.

–Cory