Happy Birthday to Bjorn! (26 Things I Love About Him)

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It’s my husband’s birthday today!! Happy birthday, love! 🙂

I turned 26 last week (I’m 9 days older than my husband!) and thought that Bjorn’s birthday called for a special post on the blog today. He is such a huge part of my life (obviously) – and he also is a big-time encourager and cheerleader of this blog, so he deserves a shoutout on Just Bee today! 🙂 

In honor of Bjorn’s special day, I wanted to share 26 things I absolutely love about him. There are definitely countless other things about Bjorn that I love and appreciate, but these are some that come to mind today.

26 Things I Love About Bjorn – In No Particular Order:

  • His work ethic. This man works harder than anyone I know! The way he prioritizes and accomplishes meaningful things is so admirable! He teaches middle schoolers full-time, he farms, he’s an officer in the Army Reserves, and he’s the Mayor of our town, and he’s getting his Masters…not to mention the other committees and activities he helps out with.
  • How handsome he is! I’ve been with him since junior year of college, and we’ve been married nearly 3 years, and I seriously still get butterflies when he makes eye contact with me. Bjorn is the most handsome man I know — I really do have a crush on him. 😉
  • His mind. Some days, I stare in awe at him as he rattles off facts about a certain general in the Civil War, or other historical, numerical, or financial information. I cannot believe the number of facts and figures he holds in that brain of his! It blows me away.
  • His thoughtfulness. You may not know this, but Bjorn makes my (special loose leaf!) tea every morning for me before work. He rubs my back when I’m tired. He warms up our car. He makes sure I don’t get too hungry by always having snacks around (he knows me well!). 🙂 He’s not even a fan of buying cut flowers, yet he surprised me by purchasing a beautiful bouquet on my birthday last week and delivering it to the elementary school office. Bjorn is so busy, yet he finds time to do thoughtful tasks and surprises — and not just for me! He helps out family members and brings joy to them through his thoughtfulness, too! This leads me to:
  • The kind of son and brother (and cousin and grandson) he is. I really do fall more in love with him when I watch how he interacts with his family — how he hugs his mom, listens to his sisters, spends time with everyone in ways that they love most. He is an amazing brother to his sisters and I know that I would love for us to have a son just like him someday!!
  • His financial wisdom. Bjorn’s been told that he really stands out in the 20-somethings crowd for his financial know-how and practicality. I had to learn a bit about being smarter with my money when we first got married, but he has been patient with me. 🙂 I really admire him for the way that he analyzes, saves, uses, and invests our money.
  • His presence. In the Army, officers can be rated by many facets and one of them is their command presence. I appreciate and respect the fact that when Bjorn talks — whether in a gym of middle schoolers playing dodgeball with him over his lunch break, or in a meeting or get together — people listen. It’s a special kind of person who has the presence that people notice and listen to.

  • His protectiveness. I have the tendency to be passive when I should be assertive, and while I am moving along this learning curve, he continues to be protective and watchful of me…and of anyone he cares deeply about!
  • His sense of humor. We have the same sense of humor! — and we so love to be goofy together! Our silly moments are some of my favorite memories of us as a couple. 🙂 Not to mention the fact that he is hilariously entertaining and fun as a history teacher, in the stories he tells his students, and how he entertains his family and friends.
  • His mental resilience. This is another thing the Army trains soldiers on. Bjorn is seriously my “steady Eddy,” not letting the storms of life rock him. He is such a rock to lean on when it comes to my crazy day-to-day emotional processing of life! Knowing that Bjorn processes things in a practical way is a relief and a reassurance.
  • His drive to be a lifelong learner.
  • His decisiveness. If you’ve read our love story, then you know this, but even our dating relationship started out with one decisive move on his part! He swiftly pulled me in his arms and kissed me one night on the front porch of “the guys’ house,” and the rest of it is history! Now that’s how to turn a best friend into a spouse! 😉 
  • How practical he is.

  • His methodical ways. We joke all the time about how I open cardboard boxes — from packages in the mail all the way down to my granola bar boxes. “Did a rat get into that, Bee?” 😉 But Bjorn — he opens things carefully, sets things down “just so,” and keeps important lists and runs things so precisely. It’s inspiring! 
  • His finesse in the kitchen! More than once, when we’ve invited people over for a meal (one that I’ve ambitiously planned), I’ll flit around the kitchen and eventually ditch him to finish up intense parts of the recipes! We joke about this, and I’ll try not to leave him alone in the kitchen in the future, but the awesome thing is, he does just fine! Bjorn is great with cooking and it’s fun to watch him and know he’s on top of things.
  • The fact that he doesn’t snore! Haha. But really. It’s a daily blessing!
  • His drive for us to function in marriage as a team. I love how he likes for me to weigh in on decisions, and so much of our marriage is talking about things and thinking about what decisions are wisest, based on which spouse is more knowledgeable or passionate in that area.
  • His heart. Bjorn loves so deeply and strongly. I love hearing his heart beating at night because it just reminds me of how big and strong that heart of his is! I am daily grateful for the intensity with which he cares about people and ideas.
  • His honesty. He’ll tell you how it is. In a world where a lot of people sidestep around the truth, this is refreshing…not to mention, it adds a layer of respect and trust to a relationship or friendship with Bjorn because you’ll know he won’t mislead or lie to you.
  • His trust in God’s plan. I have always struggled with control and trust in my faith walk, and Bjorn’s unwavering trust that God’s purpose will prevail and God will take care of His people have encouraged me so much!
  • His patience in putting up with all of my emotions! I’m silly some days, “saddy” other days…I do unfortunately experience the whole gamut, haha…but he just rolls with it!
  • His rapport with his students. It really takes a special kind of person to be a middle school teacher, and Bjorn does it with such skill! His kids love him and respect him.
  • His reputation already as Mayor. People have mentioned that they heard “the new mayor is kind and he’ll listen to you.” I love this because I strongly believe that being known as “KIND” is one of the best compliments there is!

  • His intelligence. He is certainly the history teacher we ALL wish we had had in school. But not just that — the level at which he can analyze and discuss things is awesome.
  • His competitiveness. He. Loves. Strategy. Games. Now, these generally are not my thing at all, but it sure is fun to talk with him about them. And I’m glad he has an awesome group of good friends to play them with. 🙂
  • The type of friend he is. He is the kind of friend who will drop what he’s doing or really inconvenience himself to go help a buddy out. Bjorn’s the kind of friend that you want for life.

I love this man. (Can you tell??) 

Bjorn, I hope you have an amazing birthday today! Let’s make 26 the best year yet!! 🙂