Indulge me. Today is Valentine’s Day. At the Hyatt household it is the third most important holiday of the year, right after Easter and Christmas.
When our five daughters were at home, Gail always made a big deal out of it. We ate breakfast on special valentine plates, and exchanged candy and cards.
I still like to make a big deal out of it. I have been married for 30 years. I love Gail more today than ever. She is my best-friend, my lover, my therapist, and my constant companion.
Here are the top ten things I love about her:
- She is the most positive person I know. I could count on one hand the times I have seen her down.
- She is totally fearless and simply doesn’t have the capacity to worry about anything.
- She is always learning—reading books, listening to podcasts, and spontaneously interviewing others.
- She is warm and affectionate. Many of my daughters’ friends think of her as their second mother. I think some of them think of her as their first mother.
- She is a great listener. She asks great questions. She is genuinely interested in other people.
- She loves to do things with me. If I take up a hobby, she takes it up. If I like a certain kind of food or music, she learns to like it.
- She is tender and compassionate. She cries when she watches “Extreme Makeover,” “Super Nanny,” or even “The Dog Whisperer.”
- She makes me feel super-human. To the degree that I have experienced any success, it is largely because Gail has been my constant cheerleader and my biggest fan.
- She is passionate about her relationship with God. She is constantly growing and becoming more spiritually mature with each passing year.
- And, finally—let’s be honest—she is really, really cute.
Building Champions has been coaching me since 2002. They have taught me to be more proactive and intentional in both my business and personal life. Visit their Web site to learn more and see their special offer for my blog readers.
Related posts:
In: 
Tags: 
This is a great post Michael. Well done. While following you on Twitter I have always wondered how long you have been married as you always sound like you were just married. And that is wonderful. Your relationship with your wife is what I want one day.
Excellent post Mike. I was sort of hoping for a story about how you two met and how it led to love. Perhaps a future blog?
Awesome post Michael, today is not only Valentine’s day for Shelley and I, it is our first wedding anniversary as well.
In your rotating images the one of you and Gail by the wall is a favorite of mine.
Also, thanks for the heads up about the Apple Photo Book service, I took all the photos taken of us and things we have done in the past year and made a 1 year in photos hardcover book for her gift.
You might get a kick out of this. When I gave it to her (she’s in printing) she starts dissecting the print and binding process on how they made it. It’s one of those things I love about my wife.
I always love your sincerity, though I have to say, that you didn’t have much of a choice of writing great things about her, since she is perhaps your biggest blog fan. I kid. But her adding the first post when you redesigned your blog says alot about her involvement in all that you do. That’s beautiful!
I loved, loved, loved this blog! My sweet husband is transparent about his love just like you are, Mike. And I can see all those things in Gail. Her light shines so brightly! Thanks for being a leader in more ways than one! :-)
Mike
Great post. The way you feel & see Gail, I see in my wife Ann,Valentines Day is very special to me cause it is also Ann’s birthday and today is full of surprizes just for her.
This is truly beautiful. Something our world needs a whole lot more of. Thanks for being willing to minister on marriage. Gail needs to write a book. I want more ideas on how to make my husband feel superhuman.
Well done, Mike!
What a wonderful way to celebrate and love on Gail today. I love her too for all the reasons you listed. She is a treasure to all of us that know her.
ENJOY the day…I bet it will be a great one for you!
Don’t you love having sex with her?
What a wonderful gift for you wife, not to mention the legacy of faith, hope and love you are leaving for your children. Thank you for sharing your light with us.
Mike,
I really like your new blog. Great post. My husband is with me at a conference I am attending. We exchanged cards 1st thing this morning before our busy day began. I travel almost constantly and it is so great when he is with me. I agree with you I feel that without his support I could not be successful. I smile just thinking about him. Since he is retired, he insists on taking me to the airport and picking me up. Picking me up does not mean at the curb. He parks and is waiting for me at baggage claim. Even when I am exhausted when I get off the plane that all goes away when I see him waiting for me. 35 years in June and still very much in love.
I can always tell by both you and your wife’s tweets that you two have a truely special relationship. Thank you for sharing your love for your wife with us.
I love when a man gives words of love to his wife. Simply beautiful. Thank you for sharing.
Great post. Wish I had thought of it. Instead I will go upstairs and start doing thing things I did think of! Happy Val to you and yours!
AA
In this culture, we need those of us who have great marriages to say so. Thanks for celebrating your wonderful long-term marriage.
First I want to let you know how much I enjoy following both of you on twitter.
I also love this article as I have always seen what you’ve mentioned about Gale in my wife.
The feeling of having a marriage like that is beyond compare and I thank God and my wife each day for that.
I also appreciate the fact that my wife is out going and that really helps me out.
Thanks for valuing your life partner and affirming her publicly. No wonder you’ve shared three decades together; you are demonstrating the healthy habits and best practices of intimate, growing marriages. Thank you!
Thank you for sharing your heart Michael. Only having met Gail once that was enough to be blessed by her extreme warmth and exciting persona.
What drew me to your blog and eventually to follow you and Gail on twitter was more than anything your outgoing expressions of love toward one another.
Have a wonderful Valentine’s Day my friend. And hug your sweetheart for me!
Great post Love, Hope and Faith in action….great story for Valentine day and for the rest of the year! Your wife reads like a great partner for the rest of the journey as you both write more chapters;; she could not write them as well without you. You sound like a real special husband! Dan
Only recently connected to your blog, it is great to know there are some who appreciate their partners and can speak freely of same.
My wife and I have been married 54 years, and everyone of the points you make concerning your wife, apply\ies equally to ourselves.
Without my wife and her unfailing support, life would have lost most of its meaning and my reason for living – long ago. The Love of my life – My Pauline – has often been my secure harbour from Life’s unexpected trials and tribulations!!
I often feel one day in the year is insufficient time to do justice to such relationships!
May you both enjoy and remember this Valentine’s Day, as we shall .
Very nice. Do you love the way she challenges you?
Thank You Michael,
Tammy and I are in year 18 and as I grow, my appreciation for her gifts does too. My heart is always with her ,even when we are apart. I am a better man because of her.
May you be blessed this day, and continue to inspire each other.
Sadly I’m a die hard romantic who’s not married, but this was the day I was baptised, in 1972. So in a real sense I remember He who loves me more than a brother……..
She IS cute. :) And one of my favorite people to follow on twitter.So upbeat, so encouraging. Happy Day to you both!
Loved your post. In our marriage I’m the transparent one and wrote brags on my hubby on my blog today. I know that I’m loved, respected, and appreciated. In 43 years of marriage I have never heard it declared publicly and not much privately either. It’s nice to know that other guys do that – God bless you for it. When we got married he declared his love and he hasn’t changed his mind yet, lol!
How sweet! I am very blessed with my spouse as well. I can only hope that if he had a blog, he’d be writing such a glowing post about me! And I also hope he’d be doing that after 30 years.
Michael,
That list is great! What a top ten list! Sounds like you have a great marriage and appreciate each other so much. We need to remind out spouses of those things every day of the year. Your blog is great. I appreciate all you share on it and get alot from it.
Always look forward to reading your blog! THIS is why you are a great leader and someone I look up too on a daily basis!
Thanks for your inspiring words!
Great tribute to Gail, Mike. Do you take up her hobbies, too?
@Lizaroonie, yes, some. She doesn’t have too many. But we like to walk and hike together.
Thank you for sharing this! It’s awesome to see your respect and affection for your wife through what you say about her. Love that!
What a lovely glimpse into your life, Mike. And what a gift to Gail that you were able to so specifically name her many fine points. One of the many things I love about my husband Tim is that he can almost always make me laugh. He is such a good complement to my rather serious nature!
Michael, I like your new template better every day. It’s a wonderful blend of professional and casual. Can you tell us your source of graphics? You’ve really stepped up the quality with the new template. And yes, great post. How wonderful to see a man so completely in love and willing to say so. And so attentive that he notices all the good qualities. Well done.
David Merbach: Your comment is inappropriate. That is a private item between a husband and a wife. I have known Mike and Gail for many years, as we are cousins and his parents, my Uncle and Aunt taught him well and inturn he treats Gail with the utmost respect.
Lovely post, Mike. You and Gail are a great example of enduring, kind, passionate love.
May God bless you and Gail with another 30 plus years.
Rachel
@Pat, I get all my graphics from iStockPhoto.com. Thanks.
Okay, I was doing really great on Happy Single’s Awareness Day UNTIL I read your post. First, thank you, Gail and Michael, for your examples. Your post touched a deep place and longing in my heart and I cried. Thankfully, a married friend invited me to join her and her husband to see a comedian tonight. I laughed until I was hoarse. I love the day after Valentine’s Day: It’s fifty percent off Dove’s® silky smooth dark chocolates.
IThanks, Mike, for articulating these so beautifully. And, thanks for giving us a peak inside the mystery. One has only to watch the two of you together to realize you share something extraordinary. The more I come to know you both, the more I see that you have made very deliberate choices that have created an atmosphere where love could thrive.
I know this is a gift to Gail…a lovely gift. But, it is a gift to all of us as well. Thank you.
I too have been married 30 years. I say I’m lost without my wife Wendy. She centres my whole world, and like you I travel alot. I run home…fast! I can hardly wait to get to her!
Thanks for a great blog! Here’s an idea for a gift…for our 30th anniversary I published a book via Apple…30 Things I love about You – with old and new photos! She loved it.
Beautiful post – but come on, Gail, Super Nanny? (I”m a cryer too, but that one ain’t exactly tear-worthy) ;)