Beautiful post. And how wonderful when we all think we "got the best one", be it kid, pet, spouse, family, job...etc. The statement is a proclamation of happiness and contentment with the path we are taking.
I think I just realized why I share all my photos and stories online too- I feel the same way about my family. I wondered if I would feel the same way about my other children when I thought the 1st one was so incredible but I do. They are all the best ones for me.
"Boy, you got a panty on your head." I love Raising Arizona.
You captured exactly how I feel about my husband and kids. I got the best ones, too. Isn't it great?
Dutch, the way you reminisce about falling in love with Wood is beautiful. How could you not love a woman who selflessly works with disabled children? My husband, too, worked with disabled children when he was in college, and this is a testament to his strong and compassionate character.
This was beautiful. I think your entire little family lucked out, Wendell included.
OOOOOhhhh, post some of those pics of eighteen-year-old Wood!
beautiful post
I remember that Jeanne Marie Laskas column. I love it when she writes about her daughters.
I don't feel the need to document the objects of my love through photographs, though without a doubt I have the best husband and best daughter. (I'll concede on the dog.) In fact, I like to keep the secret of their supremacy close to my heart because that makes it more true. I know without a doubt that they're the best, and I don't have to prove it to anyone for it to be true.
Great post. We too often feel like we got the best one. You are so right, I guess all parents do (or should).
Raising Arizona is a fav.
It's a crazy world.
Somebody oughta sell tickets.
I'd buy one.
poor six-year old scan:
http://www.sweetjuniper.org/
bent...entley_girl.jpg
thank you. beautifully articulated.
Just breathtaking the way one simply phrase can convey how we all feel about the ones we love.
Perhaps if more of us realized/still believed we were someone's 'best one' the world would be a more peaceful place.
Thanks for your thoughtful posts, as always.
i once read something that said the happiest relationships are the ones where each member feels as though they are the lucky one- the one who loves the other more, the one who can't believe the other could ever feel the same way. they had researched couples well into their 80's and 90's who still felt that way about theit partner- it was something that has stuck with me for a long time.
here's to knowing that we got the best one(s) for many many years to come, even when we can hardly believe our luck.
Beautiful post.
Lucky you.
Lucky all of us for getting to share in it.
(am I the only one who thinks "go 'head, Mt. Wendell" when you talk of your new dog?)
I have always told Chris that he is my favorite. And now Ada is too. The more time I have with them, the more I appreciate them.
I live with the best ones every day too. Thank you for putting it into words so beautifully.
So true. So true.
By the way, loved seeing that old photo of Wood in your comment.
Sigh, moved me to tears, particularly in the wake of my own current situation. Thanks for a lovely read.
I still hold onto the hope that I'll find someone who thinks I'm the best one.
Or at least acts like I am.
You are such a gorgeous couple.
sometimes I feel like I'm doing a disservice the way I write about our relationship; like any couple who has been together for eleven years, we have had our downs as well as our ups. Early on we broke up a couple times, did the kinds of things that people in their early twenties do to each other in relationships. It's was never as perfect as I perhaps make it out to be, what mattered is that we pushed through those hard times and stayed together.
blogging is hard because you can only publish a small percentage of who you are, and the people reading it are left to fill in the rest based on their own experiences and assumptions. Please understand I don't want anyone to think we are somehow perfect.
Except for Juniper. She is perfect.
It took me nine years to go from a mom of one to a mom of two and this had a lot to do with it. How could I have any love for the second when the first is so perfect? How could a new baby possibly fit into our family, our perfect little family? But now he is here and it's like he was always meant to be here. The two insufferable blowhards multipy with each kid.
Of course, I do have a girl and a boy, which makes it easy in the "favorite" department as I have a favorite daughter and favorite son. No one else thinks that is funny. I think it is hilarious.
I love this post, too. However, i think I love your comment above even more. Oh, and the old picture of Wood...bangless...love that, too. But she rocks the bangs and should keep them on behalf of all of us whose bangs would be more like elevator music.
Your post reminded me of a zen parable a friend and I used to quote at each other, so I googled it up, and here it is:
[C/P from http://courthousenews.com/editor...n/
coyote103.htm ]
All this reminds me of the story of a Zen monk who was walking through a marketplace hundreds of years ago in Japan. Zen monks do not eat meat, but he was walking by a butcher’s shop and the butcher had all these bloody cuts of meat hung up for sale. A customer asked the butcher for his best cut of meat.
"All my cuts of meat are the best," the butcher said.
That’s impossible, the customer said. They can’t all be the best.
But the butcher insisted. "Every single cut of my meat is the best," he said.
And the monk became enlightened.
Beautiful story, Dutch. Of course, you're wrong, since clearly *I* have the best ones, but you can go ahead of keep on deceiving yourself if it makes you feel better. 
You made me call my husband at work just to tell he rocks. Thank you.
your family is fantastic, and i have to say that all of your readers are so fortunate to be able to have a glimpse into your life! your thoughts on life, family, even detroit, are refreshing and lovely to read about.
The idea of getting the best one really appeals to the bargain shopper in me. Still, I know I did. And I didn't even have to pay half price for him.
i totally woke up this morning and giggled at the thought of the line in raising arizona when the guy goes
you know.....wiiiiiiife swappin'
i have been thinking all day about who would think it was funny along with me. and here is your first line of your post from the same movie= so maybe fellow internet commenters can revel in the joy of ever line in that movie. that movie, is also, is one of the best ones.
that there is where ma and pa chow down
"The moment every child enters the world, two insufferable blowhards are born."
Amen! Love this post.
I have this sudden urge to rent Raising Arizona...
I can`t possibly be the only parent who beheld our firstborn, who screamed for most of his waking hours, and thought, "We got the worst one."
Can I....?
Absolutely right. In the very quiet minutes before we fall asleep, we whisper to each other, "Babe's the greatest, isn't he?" "Yes, definitely the greatest, my best boy."
Oh L., you're such a card.
that's what boyband tells foo every night - of all the little girls in the world i got the best one.
she gets mad if i try to say it to her.
beautiful as ever, dutch. i agree that you got the best ones too.
Yall need to share some wedding pics.
Thank you for this post. Matt and I have been together for six years and best friends for three before that. The first thing I would do every morning during college was sit at my desk gazing hopefully into my computer screen until his Tori Amos inspired screen name would pop up in that new and totally awesome AOL friends box. We still write each other sappy and loving emails throughout the day while we're at work. I got the best one for me no doubt about it. I feel like the luckiest person I know because I have the best partner and the best dog...but not the best cat. I should put her meow up on uTube some time. It's impressive.
Wonderful post. Sometimes I feel guilty that we got the best one. But most of the time, I'm just extremely happy.
I only just happily stumbled across your blog and this is the very first post I laid my eyes on.
Beautifully written. Thanks for putting into words what my heart feels about my family.
Dutch,
I know what you mean about the guilt of putting forth the best face of your relationship to the public.
I married my best friend from college. I couldn't see life without her. It would just be terribly awkward for our (nonexistent, but future) spouses if we didn't get married. We were so close and inseparable that nothing else made sense.
Friends at the time were boggled by this as we got married way before any of them. We'd been married for 5 or 6 years before the first of them (and then had children last, go figure). So it was odd being many of their first experiences with a married couple that they had known before as singles and it was totally idealized in their eyes. Not that it wasn't great, but relationships are relationships and take a lot of work and compromise and sometimes pain to move forward.
When people would say things like, "I want my marriage to be just like yours" it would always remind me of a story that my in-laws told. They had done one of these marriage encounter things later in life and had committed to staying close with a group of couples that also went through it with them. In their regular gatherings they would hash out things that were struggles and triumphs in their respective marriages and over the course of time got to know each other very well.
One couple stood out in most of the groups mind as perfect, especially the husband and it always made him uncomfortable for his wife. During one gathering, one of the members voiced this long held, but generally unspoken, wonderful opinion of the husband and he said something along the lines of "Thanks, but I'm not perfect and if you lived with me a lot of my rough edges would be more visible to you and they would probably begin to irritate anybody. It's a natural part of any relationship."
I know where you're coming from. It sets you up in a weird way to fail in other people's eyes and that's scary. You don't want it to be a big deal if people actually witness your relationship on an "off" day and extrapolate it out into a dire consequence.
You don't want a conversation like:
"I saw Dutch and Wood at the grocery the other day and they are being all snippy about the broccoli."
"Mm mm mm. I thought they were so in love. I wonder when they started having problems?"
It's a danger.
On the other hand, being able to put voice to your deeper, long held, feelings buoys them up; makes them available through those tough times; keeps you hanging on to what matters.
So keep it up.
Write them down, on paper no less, and give them to Wood to only be shared between you sometimes.
Love your stuff. Keep it up.
I think several folks got the gist of how I felt about this post when I read it - we each have gotten the best ones for US. My husband is no fashion plate (far from it), he's a bit geek and nerd and absolutely not a creative spirit. BUT - he has strong character, he's honest, he's genuine, he's got an adventurous spirit, he appreciates and loves me, and he ADORES our daughter. He's absolutely perfect for me. 14 years later. I don't think you guys are "perfect" - anyone who thinks they are is smoking something, or isn't being honest. But you're genuine people who see the best in each other and appreciate what you have, making sure the other knows it, even when you disagree about things.
But Juney, she's perfect.
Awww!!! I think I git the best one, too....both my mate and my child. this was precious.
Now what do you say when No. 2 comes along?
Dutch--You write beautifully--love the line about the blowhards. Can't wait, though, to hear what you have to say about your teenager someday...my 'best one' is now a ball buster. Thank god for my other 'best ones'. (Hub version and 2nd child)They're keeping me sane.
Great post. Loved it!
Delurking to comment. My Best One and I are in the process of adopting a child from China; we're looking forward to being blowhards. Your photos of SJ are inspiring.
Oh my god, that picture is awesome. I could totally match her tie-dye shirts circa 1993.
I had a girlfriend (single) once ask me, rather sneeringly, whether I thought my husband was perfect, my one true love, Prince Charming. I said something along the lines of "no, but his faults are faults I can live with. He's perfect for me."
That's how I feel about my son, too.
And my husky! His fur doesn't bother me the way it would others, and I love his independent thinking skills.
Dutch,
I'd think you were the best one if I hadn't already found him. Thanks for writing from the heart and reaching into mine.
I don't know how I stumbled upon your blog, but your posts are so beautiful at times they make me cry. I'm 50 years old now, and your words bring back to me all those wonderful feelings of being twenty-something. Such bittersweet memories.
Reading each post is like opening a package on Christmas morning.
Dude, I've met Wood, and I can totally tell you: you DID get the best one. ROWWR. 
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