Devorah and I: 2 Down, Forever to Go

Two years ago my life changed forever. That was the day Devorah and I stood under the chuppah and became one. That was the day everything in my life got a solid and permanent upgrade.

Every day is fun. We’ve done a lot of amazing things together. We’ve seen a guy with a horse mask playing the accordion in Vienna, watched spectators gaze at a statue of a urinating boy in Brussels, shot rifles on my birthday, and continue to survive and thrive as a couple throughout months and months of being trapped at home during a global pandemic.

But sometimes it’s the hidden things, the items you would never know about unless I shouted them from the rooftop. These are the game-changers. These are the stories that would make any observer recognize that I didn’t just get married two years ago. I accidentally stumbled into a pool of diamonds. And here I find myself thanking God every single day for brightening up an otherwise fairly dark decade of my life.

So I wanted to share five stories, stories that continue to amaze me. These are moments of discovery, moments of knowing that my wife isn’t just a nice lady. She’s a piece of pure gold I should cherish and hold onto as tightly as possible!

1) Devorah and the Piece of Glass

A few months ago, I went to walk my dog in the morning. My footwear wasn’t exactly what one might call impressive. And I ended up with a small shard of glass wedged in my foot.

I hobbled back, trying to get home without making things worse, but to no avail. That sucker just got deeper and deeper.

My son and I tried for a bit to get it out of there, but we failed miserably. And I proceeded to start my workday, unable to let my foot touch the floor.

When Devorah came out of the bedroom, she expressed shock that I had not called upon the skills (and over-the-top patience) of Dr. Devorah to solve the problem.

And she proceeded to go to town!

I worked while lying on my stomach, while she did everything she could think of to try and save the day. Ultimately after one hour of labor, she fished that thing right out of me. With a smile and a strong feeling of satisfaction, she showed me the giant piece of glass that had really made my morning miserable.

Her steady hands, caring nature, and iron patience are unmatched!

2) Devorah and the Broken Phone

One morning, I woke up late for work, in a massive panic. My water bottle leaked, and overnight my phone had been soaking in a puddle of water. It was quite dead and not coming to life anytime soon (hence my alarm not going off).

This was a problem on so many levels, not the least of which was the fact that in minutes I needed to start working, and I needed a security code on my phone to get into my work computer.

So I was freaking out.

My amazing wife got up, didn’t blink, found and charged an old phone, removed the SIM card from my phone, plopped it into the old one, and voila, I was up and running in no time. I was maybe ten minutes late for my shift.

Devorah acted calmly, efficiently, and with zero hesitation. She took me down from off-charts-panic to breathing just slightly heavier in minutes, and I couldn’t even fathom someone who could have handled the moment better.

3) Devorah and the Aching Buttocks

When Devorah and I met, I sat uncomfortably on a chair for several hours. No, not because I wasn’t enjoying the conversation. I absolutely was! But I had crippling sciatica that made any pressure on my behind unbearable. And this ailment had been the bane of my existence for a great deal of the last several years. I couldn’t sit. It made working out more challenging. And it pretty much interfered with every aspect of my life.

Even at my own wedding I had to plow myself with pain killers in order to enjoy the dancing without falling to pieces.

But my suffering is not something Devorah is OK with. She hunted for the right physical therapist and drove me weekly, until one day my pain was just no longer there. I had long given up. My expectation was a life of pain, and never being able to live normally again. Devorah said, “Untrue. And unacceptable.”

And here we are. Life is basically normal again.

My precious wife takes care of me. She takes care of me when I get a cold. And she takes care of me when I’m sad.

And she pushes me and encourages me and constantly reminds me that there’s always a better possibility out there. Giving up is not an option.

4) Devorah and the Gift

Who doesn’t love gifts?

But some people are hard to shop for. You have the type of person who likes nothing. That poses an obvious and very frustrating challenge. On the opposite end of the spectrum, you have folk like me. If you ask me to write down ten thingsI want, after two hours I might come up with one or two things. And even those I can live without… and they might be entirely unavailable, hence my not already owning them.

But then you have a Devorah, who can somehow find the perfect gift without any feedback from me. She knows what I want way before I do. She never disappoints, and she always manages to impress and surprise me, not easy feats!

See the pictures here of my gorgeous children:

They were a gift for my last birthday.

And these pictures on our wall:

I drew them when I was a child (before I became really jaded about being an artist). But Devorah wanted to remind me that I’ll always be an artist. She went ahead and had these bad boys framed, and I had no clue it was even happening.

I was legitimately surprised. And I was sincerely inspired.

Who knows? Maybe one day I really will be an artist again.

5) Devorah and the Changed Identity

It took me a while until I got into the idea of costumes. For whatever reason, I was a bit embarrassed. And even when I did it well, I was often a minimalist about it. I mean, I’m not saying I didn’t nail Waldo… I’m just saying, I needed to buy a few items and I was good to go. Plus, I used the same costume three different times, knowing full well there would be no crossovers in who I would bump into.

But that was then.

The costume upgrade has been next level and my holidays will never be the same.

Here you can see us as Wesley and Buttercup:

And here we are as John Lennon and Yoko Ono:

Yeah, no more of that toss on a mask and call it a day garbage. The Jaffes take this stuff seriously! Devorah will always make sure to break out the sewing machine and turn the world upside down looking for the right items until we nail the costume. No exceptions!

I can’t wait to see what’s next!