Liz

This entry is from Linc’s dad Sam.


(Sorry for how late this one is going up, but we all just got back from SeaWorld in San Antonio. I’m sure there will be more on that tomorrow.)

This blog is all about the reality of life raising Lincoln, but it is viewed through Liz’s eyes. And what eyes! What perception!

This entry is all about Liz. She writes this blog, so she is allowed to heap laurels on everyone but herself. I am not restricted by this same rule, it’s not my blog.

My wife is incredible. And yes, every husband has to say this, but I was not supposed to be writing about this, I was supposed to be writing about Lincoln’s progress since last year. I am ignoring that assignment in order to educate you all about the woman who writes this blog. In case you were unaware, she is one of those people that you count yourself lucky to have met. She is compassionate, loving, warm, and witty. But I will leave those qualities aside for the sake of brevity. I will just stick to these…

To begin with, she is a natural born writer. If you have read any of her writings here, I am sure that you will agree this woman has an exquisite way of expressing herself through prose. That kind of refined self expression can only come from someone who is profoundly honest, strikingly perceptive, and disturbingly wise. Her kind of writing is a quality that all humans envy, her ability to take the firehose of life and somehow drink it in and focus it all down to a laser beam of meaning, a nugget of relevance. We envy her not just for the peerless beauty of her prose, but for the elegant honesty with which she writes.

Liz is nothing if not honest… erudite and eloquent, yes, but always honest. As a creature who dwells in the land of abject candor, she expects the same from those close to her. If they are unwilling to provide the level of honesty she demands, she will eventually draw it out of them like water from the depths of the earth. It is actually amazing to see. Stoics laughingly break under her scrutiny and skeptics eventually rejoice in her subtle and unceasing guidance.

On top of all of that, Liz is an incredibly hard worker. She is determined to do a good job at whatever task she faces. The two of us worked together as colleagues for years (yes, we know y’all think it’s crazy, but we really liked each other enough to actually work together) so I know what I am talking about. No one works as hard as this woman. She eschews the quick but less effective way, she seeks out challenges, and she hates to be bored. Liz went to college while pregnant. She dragged herself from one end of the 40 acres of the University of Texas to the other, in the summer… in Austin. Did I mention she was really really pregnant? She kept going even when she found herself the new mother of a special needs child who was in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit for almost three weeks. She still received a perfect 4.0 GPA.

Seriously, Liz? We would have understood if you would have gotten a B in Nutrition 101 that semester. Well, WE would have understood, but not she. She doesn’t do something without working hard enough to get it right. She was rewarded by being handed her diploma by the president of the University, and on that diploma it says “With Highest Honors”. The picture hangs on our bedroom wall. Her smile is a gorgeous symbol of accomplishment.

Speaking of gorgeous, if you haven’t seen her yet let me tell you, my wife is beautiful. She has honed her body after pregnancy, not for vanity’s sake, but because she realized that exercise keeps her sane (I told you she is a hard worker). When my wife comes into the Hula Hut to visit me on days when I am working (a venue frequented by both the scantily clad and the famously attractive), I am regularly greeted by the same response from my fellow workers, male and female alike. “Damn! Liz looks good!” Some even throw in a nice, “What’s she doing with you, man?” One of my good friends, Kristen, is always reminding me that I need to be exceptionally good to Liz, because if not, “She’s gonna leave you and get someone better. ‘Cause that girl can get any man she wants.” Good reminder. Thanks for that…

But people don’t just respond to her because of her physical beauty. They are picking up on something more meaningful, something more permanent, something imprinted on her soul. Our son Linc has an aura. You’ve heard me speak of it before. The secret to that aura, that presence, does not spring from his third 21st chromosome. It comes from his mother. When SHE talks to you, just like when HE looks at you, you know something special is happening. It is both daunting and invigorating. It is challenging and energizing. With both people, mother and son, you realize that you are in the presence of someone who makes you want to be a much better person.

Liz says (and writes) regularly that she is blessed to be the mother of Lincoln Myrick. The irony is that this ‘Queen of Honesty’ cannot see the truth that her son is even more blessed to be the son of Elizabeth Myrick.

If you have met her, then you know what I am talking about, and probably find this entry a bit nauseating. But if you haven’t met my wife, wait until you do. Then you’ll find out that the truth is that I left out a lot of her best qualities. Maybe I will get to them next year…

-Sam