#4 Celebrate Super Husband earning his FSA

A journey that began when we first met is finally over! Super Husband obtained his Fellowship in the Society of Actuaries back in July, but we held off on the official celebration until he had his certificate in hand. I am once again floored by the intelligence and wisdom of the man I married. I’ve never met such a hard worker!

At Super Husband’s induction banquet, the speakers kept saying how this was our (the spouses’ and supporters’) night too. We smiled at each other, gave and accepted congratulations, but I still feel like I did very little compared to all the time and dedication my husband put into his fellowship. While he was taking numerous exams, working on time-consuming projects, and spending countless hours of studying…I was simply doing LIFE and cheering him on.

That role has changed since college when we first started dating. Back then, my support consisted of verbal encouragement, a few baked treats, and one very cheesy CD mix of “go get ‘em” songs for him to listen to on his long drive to the exam center. As his long-distance girlfriend and fiancé, it meant sacrificing date nights and closeness (part of why we lived so far apart) so he could start his career in Washington AND continue his studies.

As his wife, the supportive role looked more like this:

Do life (chores, represent him at social gatherings, etc).

Pray that he had the strength to study just one more hour.

Make coffee.

Keep our calendar relatively clear so he could study.

Make more coffee.

Pray fervently leading up to, during, and after the exams (waiting for results was hard too!).

Live in patience.

Offer the encouragement and words of praise he needed and deserved.

Pray that he’d reach the end SOON!

And he did.

With the last exam over, the results received two months later, and the fancy banquet out of the way, it was time to party! We were excited to host our own in-home celebration for family and a few friends who were there for us these past seven years. I even had a Pinterest board dedicated to the planning. I wanted it to be special.

I spent all day setting up the homemade touches I’d worked on over the previous weeks—difficult to do, as we were smack dab in the middle of planning our Europe trip. Nerdy math/actuary jokes provided a little entertainment…maybe more so for Super Husband, but that’s the way it should be! I chose his favorite colors—blue and green—as the “theme colors,” and completely overlooked that these are our city’s team colors, both in soccer and football. It worked out, as the lady at the dollar store had plenty of blue and green balloons pre-filled!

In a nutshell, it was a fine party. Just fine. Some key people couldn’t make it, or simply didn’t show. Our catering order was late and messed up (at least I tried to pull out all the stops and not put the pressure on myself to cook!). The evening was cooler than expected and all my backyard setup ended up underutilized. (Deja vu of my 16^th birthday party where we spent more time huddled around the woodstove than the luau-themed basement I’d spent hours preparing.) And I forgot to take pictures and have the guest of honor cut the cake. Thankfully, a friend took some with his amazing camera (and skills), so the evening wasn’t totally undocumented.

When it was over, we both felt relieved. Again, not exactly the resulting emotion I had envisioned. Content would have been better. Or celebratory? Exhilarated at what this party symbolized? Oh well, relief is still appropriate. We made it. It’s done. And we get to move forward in this life we share, without consideration for study/exam schedules. Praise the Lord!