1. Multi-task like a mother fucker.
Satu can watch TV, blog and shop simultaneously while also doing her taxes, cutting out pictures and cooking an amazing meal. I am not exaggerating, I have seen it happen. She is always aware of what is going on around her and seemingly never needs to concentrate. She has never once asked me to turn down the radio or clear any distractions, because nothing is a distraction for her she has a seemingly endless capacity to keep adding more and more tasks. Her little hands may only be able to do so much, but her mind never gives up.
2. Turn a phrase
Yes, she can pun with the best of them, but she can also find the right word for anything. She has introduced me to things that I was never aware had names like trivet and finial. Some times it is hard for me to keep up, like the other day when I expressed surprise that Dr. Who's "tartan" came in plaid? Clearly I didn't know what we were talking about and Satu had introduced me to the words tartan and tardis without enough time between the two. She can write beautiful poetry or prose and whip out a haiku for just about any occasion, but the best thing is that when she says "I love you," it feels like the first time every time.
3. Talk to animals
Satu speaks fluent dog, cat, frog, chipmunk, crow and squirrel and is quick to pick up new beast dialect whenever we encounter some new fellow. She is the kind of person who will stop anywhere to save a locust from a piece of gum or pat a lizard.
4. Kiss
Because Satu is modest, I will not gush here about how much I relish her kisses. Let's just say that if I had to choose between her kisses and being the richest person in America, I wouldn't hesitate to choose her kisses. Bill Gates doesn't get to kiss Satu, too bad for him. Poor guy.
5. Cook
Satu can make a home cooked meal out of just about any ingredients, but it's not just knowing how to cook that makes her meals special, she also makes dinner time feel like family time. You can get run over by a car and still consider yourself lucky when she scrapes you off the road and feeds you her chicken and artichoke dinner. She cooked for me on our second date. The deal was that I would bring the food and she would cook it and we would share some tasty oatmeal stout that she brought back from Freestate Brewery. I had some trouble deciding what to buy, so I bought a lot of food. Damned if she didn't cook the tastiest pork I have ever had on her tiny little charcoal grill, and bacon wrapped fillet and stuffed mushrooms and corn and still manage to whip up a homemade dressing for the salad.
6. Manage her expressions
Satu can instantly get her point across wordlessly if she chooses, mostly by exerting skillful control over her eyebrow muscles. Her version of stink eye would wither even the president. When she does the dramatic double eyebrow furl, you actually hear the building music in the background. She can express love, compassion, pain, hate, curiosity, friendship and just about anything else she chooses without a single word.
7. Blue donut of rage
I have never seen this, but when she talks about it, I get a glimpse of how devastating her rage ball can be. Imagine if the sun crashed into earth and then all of the atoms in the multi-verse exploded at once. Now multiply that by infinity, put it in your pipe and smoke it.
8. Make a list
Satu has lists for everything. I bet she has a list of lists that she intends to write. Her lists are not always just lists though. Often they are little pictures and thoughts too. It is wonderful to stumble upon a mystery list and read it without knowing it's purpose. They are like surprising little poems. It always makes me marvel at the quirky way her mind works.
9. Plan for anything
Satu knows where the fire exit is in every place we visit. She also knows what we are doing if there is a tornado, or an earthquake or a sudden blizzard. She has probably already chosen various shooting positions as we pull into any spot in a parking deck "just in case." She has first aid kits and water supplies and she checks the weather before leaving her house. I find all of this immensely comforting since my only plan is to follow her plan.
10. Laugh
One of my favorite things about Satu is that she is free with her laughter. She isn't bubbly, and she doesn't do bouncy, but she looks for the light in things. She turns a phrase so that the best side of anything is exposed and she believes, as I do, that laughter is essential. If I make her laugh, it makes me feel like a king. If I can make her laugh for the rest of our lives, it will be everything I ever wanted to accomplish.
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