Happy birthday husband! 39 reasons you are the best :)

Well, it continues to be a hot minute since I’ve updated this blog (and I know I still have to write about our fabulous time in a New Zealand … which was, you know, only a little over a year ago) … but I wanted to take a day to celebrate an amazing-ly awesome guy, my Damian!

As some of you may know, today is Damian’s 39^th birthday! I know he loathes attention and hates making a big deal of this special date, but I think it would be a shame to not pause and take note of all the awesome-ness Damian has brought into this world.

When thinking about what to write, I was inspired by my (sadly retired) blogger friend, Happy or Hungry, and her birthday posts about her husband Evan. So in that vein, buckle in for …

 

39 amazing things about Damian!

 

1. Easiest-going person. Ever. If you’ve met Damian even once you know that he is unflappable. He takes everything in stride and is the most calming and stable presence. And if you’ve met me, you know how good a pairing the both of us are together!

 

2. Amazing dog dad. In May of 2019 we brought home our puppy nugget baby, Pipa. It’s been so awesome to watch Damian be a doggy dad. Pipa is definitely a daddy’s boy and watching Damian love him and raise him is honestly like living in a fairy-tale.

 

 

3. Makes up songs. One of Damian’s secret talents is the ability to make up random and hilarious (to me) songs about almost any situation. One of my favorites from this year came from a hotly contested backgammon game we played: “I can’t let you eat me, it would not be good. I can’t let you eat me, I am not your food!” (and yes, in his head it rhymes).

 

4. Likes to cook. I mean, this should be self-explanatory right? Whether simple or complicated, Damian gets a lot of joy out of cooking. And, as someone who would rather Postmate than cook, selfishly I very much appreciate this quality of his.

 

5. Loving uncle. We’re lucky to have four niblings in our lives from the Engen side – three nieces and one nephew. And much like with Pipa, Damian is just amazing with all of them. He balances fun with learning with getting energy out with discipline and it’s awe-inducing.

 

 

6. Bikes around the city. Biking is Damian’s preferred form of transport to get around New York City. While obviously this makes me somewhat nervous at times I do beam with pride for Damian’s resourcefulness and determination when he, say, bikes the 50 minutes from the Upper West Side to the Lower East Side to drop the pupper off.

 

7. Talks in his sleep. Well, obviously this is one that most others haven’t experienced, but it is freaking hilarious. Damian usually falls asleep before I do, and once he sleeps he sometimes talks and has full blown conversations with me. He doesn’t remember anything of his chatting or dreams in the morning but they are SO funny. Here’s an example of one below.

 

 

8. Great son and brother. Damian has such dedication and love for his family. Whether it is making sure to call his parents every weekend to check in, making time to see family on work trips or having career and life chats with his siblings, I love seeing the effort he puts in to maintain connections and closeness even when miles apart.

 

9. Hard worker. Damian is one of the hardest workers I know. It’s astounding to me the number of hours he puts in at work, not because he has to, but because he wants to. I often wish I had his commitment and perseverance!

 

10. Fit-tastic. Damian especially hates when I brag about this side of him, but I adore how fit he is. I often force him to break out his gymnast skills and though I roll my eyes when he can run a half-marathon or do a triathlon without any training, it really is because I’m so jealous of his athletic abilities.

 

 

11. Dog whisperer and super trainer. Damian has an uncanny ability to inadvertently train any dog he spends more than five minutes with. It’s super impressive how he can get every pup to sit, down and wait – I think it’s because Damian carries such good energy with him!

 

12. Can make anything fun. No matter the situation, no matter the location, Damian can make everything silly and hilarious. One of my early favorites was when he invented “stand here, it’ll be good” – where we basically stand with our back to the waves at a beach and try to take a picture the instant we get bowled over. So dumb, so fun.

 

 

13. Tolerates playing Agricola…and bingo…and casinos. I have a lot of random things I get excited and passionate about. And I love that 99 percent of the time Damian is happy to go along and have fun doing any of them. (and the 1 percent of time he’s not in the mood to do so? of course he gets a major pass).

 

14. Great leader. I think this is best exemplified by how much his team loves working with him at his job. Obviously I don’t see this day-to-day, but every time I meet Damian’s co-workers I’m regaled with stories about how he’s the best boss ever – one who cares genuinely about people and who always stays calm, cool and collected.

 

15. Smart. Damian is hands down one of the smartest people I have ever met. He can give me and my family a run for our money in every board game, even if he tries to skirt house rules sometimes (sorry love, the bid can and will always be able to be even when we are below five cards in Judgment/Oh Hell). (oh, and we are playing backgammon by the pool below).

 

 

16. Ultimate house partner. I’ll be honest here, I’m not very good about being a housewife – whether laundry, cleaning, cooking, etc. I’m so so so grateful that Damian takes care of this for us. Seriously so grateful.

 

17. Diligent. When Damian does something he is super diligent about it. Occasionally this leads to him spending 30 minutes to pick out the perfect box of bandaids, it’s a great quality in most situations. I’ll never forget the day I walked into our apartment last year and he had three computers up running different tax models to figure out the best way to file for when we were on our 8-month trip.

 

18. Loves to travel. I mean, this goes without saying? Damian excitedly took 8-months off of work to travel the world together and it was an epic, unforgettable adventure of a lifetime. I can’t wait to see where we go to next.

 

 

19. Loves to travel in his own style. While our vacations together have been a compromise of our preferences, I really admire how Damian travels on his solo trips. I remember when he went to Nicaragua on his own, bought a second-hand bike, and literally cycled across the entire country, on highways and dirt roads. He stopped to rent rooms for $2 a night from little houses on the side of the road and truly lived moment by moment and day by day. (let’s be clear, I would never do that, but it impresses me that he does).

 

20. Financially prudent. Damian has always been careful and deliberate with his money, not because he likes to spend a lot, but because he wants to maintain optionality and freedom in his life. I love how he has influenced me in this and how it sets up our family for success. When I asked Damian what he wanted to do tonight to celebrate his birthday … his answer was to work on future family budget, ha!

 

21. Wedding joys. Everyone knows wedding are expensive, complicated and hectic. But even with all of that, I will never forget the look of pure joy on Damian’s face during our entire wedding weekend. It was so special to see how happy Damian was to get married and to celebrate with our loved ones.

 

 

22. Loves me for me. Let’s be clear, I know I can be an awesome person to love, but depending on the day, I can also be a challenging person to love. Damian never asks or wants me to be anything other than me – whether that means I sleep in until noon, don’t shower for three days or eat McDonald’s for lunch and dinner.

 

23. Best brother-in-law to Poops. I always knew I wanted my husband to get along great with my sister, but I never imagined it would be this good. I love that Damian has such a close relationship with Poops, even independent of me, and that they both bring such laughter and support to each others’ lives.

 

 

24. Great son-in-law. Over the holidays we spent almost ten days with my parents in New Jersey and I just so enjoyed Damian’s interaction with my parents. He is unfailingly kind and patient, and it was so cute to see him cooking with my mom in the kitchen or chatting with my dad about life at the kitchen table.

 

25. Independent. I love that as much as Damian and I are obsessed with spending time together (we only spend two days apart in our whole 8-month around-the-world adventure together!) we are also both independent and he is happy for me to spend time doing my own thing and he’s happy to spend time doing his own thing.

 

26. Tries stupid tricks. So, not going to lie, me and my friends/sister come up with some dumb ideas. Most of the time Damian is so game to be a part of it – whether it is trying to use Elmer’s Glue to get rid of nose pore gunk or doing three escape rooms in a row or pretending to be a turtle at an aquarium.

 

 

27. Takes feedback. I get this sounds like consulting jargon, but whatever. One of the best things about being married to Damian is that if I need something or want something he’s always willing to listen to what I’m saying and to try to make a change. Seriously I cannot underscore how important and amazing this is when trying to create a true partnership (thanks love for writing me all those birthday and anniversary cards even when it’s not totally your thing!).

 

28. Makes friends wherever he goes. I love that Damian is so kind and friendly that he can make friends in any time and any place. He’s always coming back from Central Park telling me about fun fellow dog owners that he’s met or a new neighbor he met in the elevator. And I especially love that he does it in his own way – calm and slow versus my hyper and fast.

 

29. Thirst for adventure. If you couldn’t tell from the Nicaragua story above, Damian loves doing new and interesting things. I love experiencing those things with him and that sometimes he pushes me a little bit beyond my (quite large) comfort zone.

 

 

30. Always has half an avocado. All I’ll say is 95% of the time if you come to our apartment on the weekend Damian will offer you half an avocado. It’s just so him.

 

31. Multicultural-ness. It’s really awesome that Damian and I both have had unique, non-American cultures to bring into our relationship. I so love learning about how he grew up in Brazil and I’m grateful for how that shaped him. I also am so thankful for his interest in my culture – whether it is performing Indian dances at our wedding, starting to learn Hindi or doing Aarti at Diwali together.

 

 

32. #NerdForLyfe. I just adore that my guy is such a geek and is interested in nerdy things. Obviously we share the fact that we went to MIT, but even better than that I love his interest in continued nerdiness. I’ll just say this – one of our first mornings together we woke up and instead of getting brunch or chatting about our lives or learning about each other, we spent almost an hour trying to figure out how the U.S. Postal Service accounts for Forever stamps in their financial statements. And then later that day at the airport he spent more time looking through USPS docs to get more information on it. So dorky, but so interesting.

 

33. Terrible taste in clothing. This is not up for debate. Damian has some seriously questionable fashion choices. But I love that it doesn’t matter to him and that he lets me laugh at some of the ridiculousness he puts together.

 

 

34. No pretenses. In the same vein, I love that Damian has no pretenses about material things – he doesn’t need fancy cars, a big house, or designer clothes. He just loves being happy and around the people he loves. This did go a bit too far when every single one of his dress shirts had holes in the elbows and he tried to wear one to our wedding … but you know, two sides of the same coin.

 

35. Exceedingly generous. If I had to pick three words to describe Damian, one would definitely be generous. He is always thinking of others and willing to help, with or without being asked, and he often doesn’t even realize how much he eases others’ lives by doing so. I’ll always remember very early in our relationship when I was feeling lazy and was in bed and didn’t want to take my contacts out. Without saying anything Damian walked to the bathroom and brought me my lens case and solution – I knew right then that I had found myself a keeper.

 

36. Enjoys a good spa day. I mean, this wasn’t a deal-breaker but definitely a deal-maker. I love our luxurious and lounge-y spa days together.

 

 

37. Late night giggles. One of the things I live for in life are the moments where you are with someone and burst into uncontrollable laughter. Somehow this happens to me and Damian regularly and we end up not going to sleep until 2am on a weeknight. A recent favorite was when Damian decided he could be a beatboxer and we spent hours with me giving him instruments to imitate and … it was just epic.

 

38. Dances like no one is watching. This is true in the literal sense, that Damian dances (often like an airplane) and doesn’t care what people think. But more than that, he doesn’t live his life for social media or for appearances, just for joy and kindness. There’s a self-confidence in that that I adore.

 

39. Loves unconditionally. And finally, how could I not end with this? Damian is one of the purest examples of true, unconditional love that I have ever seen. He loves without abandon and without expecting anything in return. He loves simply to love, and, through that, makes everyone in his life feel special and valuable. If that’s not magic, then I don’t know what is.

 

 

Happiest of birthdays to my favorite guy and the best partner to go through life with. I’m so glad you were born and I can’t believe we get to slumber party together forever! Mush always!