The Randomness of Dusty Takle

One of the things I appreciate about my husband is his boldness.  He is courageous.  He is a risk-taker.  He is fearless.  This trait shines through in his confidence.  It eases my own fears, and I suddenly feel safe beside him.

I noticed this about Kris immediately when we first began dating.  On one of our first dates, he called to ask me out for a surprise adventure.  He wouldn’t tell me where we were going.  When I inquired about what I should wear, he answered like a real man.  “A dress.  Every man likes to see a little leg.” 

Yes. He. Did. Say. That.

He flew in from Oklahoma to the Peach State.  He showed up at my door.  I kissed my sweet, five-month old baby boy goodbye, and I entered Kris Takle’s fearless world.  I ended up at my hometown airport, facing a twin piston airplane.  He opened my door, and I climbed in.  Showing a little leg, of course.  He sat in the left seat, because I clearly cannot fly an aircraft myself.  And, we, well he, took off. 

I can remember watching him push the throttle forward, pull back on the yoke, full of confidence in what he is was doing.  We landed in Hilton Head, South Carolina and went to one of my most favorite restaurants still.  I had been out with one other guy before Kris.  When I went out this “other guy”, I was so nervous that I hardly touched my food.

Anyone who knows me knows I may fear some things, but indulging in an entrée is not one of them.

But, being with Kris was different.  I sat beside him in that restaurant, his confidence making me feel at ease, and I inhaled every morsel on my plate.  I so surprised myself that I turned to him and said, “Did you eat any of my food?”

“No.  You wouldn’t let me near it,” he responded.

I knew then, well, and after he took me for a walk on the beach, that there just might be something special about him.

And, I was sure of this something special, this fearlessness that I so admired, when I watched him with John Henry.  Here was this twenty-nine year old bachelor with no experience with infants in the floor with my greatest treasure, turning a stuffed alligator into a real, live show.  And, John Henry smiled. 

Kris would encourage me to go take time to myself.  “Go for a run with your girls,” he’d say.  “John Henry and I will have fun.”

His courage to take on fatherhood the way he did still impresses me more than his boldness and skill in the cockpit.  And, after almost seven years of being together, he still eases my own fears every time he sits beside me…..and, every time I watch our children crawl into his lap.

He is fearless.  I love that about him.