Solomon was a wise man. I especially like his Proverb about how lucky a man is if he has the good fortunate of marrying a virtuous wife. To loosely quote King Solomon, in Proverbs 31 he wrote, “A virtuous wife is hard to find. Her husband trusts her. To him she is more beautiful than fine jewels. She gets up a great while before daylight to prepare breakfast for him before he goes off to work, and she spends her hard earned money to care for him and to make herself and their home beautiful for him. She is so amazing that he tells her, “Many men have nice wives but you are the best of all.”

I couldn’t agree more. As regular readers of this column know, I sometimes enjoy teasing about how my beautiful wife, Yvonne, sometimes slaps me upside of the head or kicks me in the shins for some silly thing I’ve done. But the truth is, like Solomon, I know a good thing when I’ve got it.

For instance, the other night I was chit chatting with a friend on the phone and he mentioned that he had paid a couple of boys to shovel his driveway that morning so he wouldn’t have to do it himself.

I smiled and told him that a great while before daylight that very morning Yvonne had quietly slipped out of bed, bundled up in her coat and mittens, and shoveled our driveway so it would be clean when I got up to go to work.

“You’re kidding, right?” my friend asked. “No, I’m not kidding,” I replied. There was a long pause, and then in a soft almost inaudible tone of admiration, my friend whispered, “Wowwwww.”

Yes, I know a good thing when I’ve got it. I also know that this kind of care and devotion is not common to all wives, and it is not something that just mysteriously happens. You have to pick the right girl in the first place.

I can still remember watching Yvonne’s mom all those years ago when Yvonne and I first started dating. When I was at Yvonne’s house I would watch as her mom waited on her dad hand and foot. When he got home each evening he would take his shoes off and sit back in his easy chair to take a nap before supper. Mom would fluff up a cushion for his head as she gave him a little kiss, and then pick up his shoes and take them to the bedroom. She would work as quietly as she could in the kitchen preparing his supper. Then, just like clockwork, about a half hour later he would wake up from his nap and turn on the news. This always seemed to be the signal for Mom to bring his supper to him on a tray. He would always act surprised and say, “Oh, thank you Sweetie, you didn’t need to do that.” She would always smile, give him another little kiss, and say, “I know, but I love you so much.” Then she would get her tray and join him to watch the news, but I could tell she was always watching to see when he was done so she could take his tray to the kitchen. As she did, she would ask, “Would you like some ice cream” (or whatever she happened to have for dessert.) And like a well rehearsed play, his reply was always the same, “Yes, Sweetie, that sounds good.” So Mom would bring him a dish of ice cream, and then head off to the kitchen to do the dishes.

I had heard somewhere when I was a boy that if you want to know what your prospective wife will be like, you should watch how her mom treats your prospective father-in-law. “Yep,” I remember thinking to myself as I watched how Yvonne’s mom cared for her Dad, “This works for me.” So I asked Yvonne to marry me, and, sure enough, she has turned out to be just like her mom.

Each evening she brings my supper to me in the man cave, and I always act surprised and say, “Oh, Sweetie, you didn’t need to do that.’ The only difference between us and Yvonne’s mom and dad is that I take my nap after I eat, while she washes the dishes. Come to think of it, I’m really glad I bought that new dishwasher for her birthday.

Back to that phone conversation with my friend about Yvonne getting up early to shovel the driveway”¦after his envious, “Wowwww,” I said to him, “Did you know that verse 21 of that Proverb says, “She will not be afraid of the snow?” Now he thought I really was trying to pull his leg. “It’s true,” I said, “that really is what it says.” Then I told him this story.

Last Sunday while I was watching the football game, I looked out the window and saw Yvonne wading through the snow carrying in firewood. The wind was blowing and it was bitterly cold, so I went to the door and said, “Honey, it’s cold out there, you don’t have to do that right now, wait until halftime and I’ll help you.” She smiled and said, “I don’t mind, I’m not afraid of a little bit of snow.’ “Well, okay,” I said, “But just carry in a few loads and then come in and watch the game with me.”

Then, as I closed the door, I had a great idea. To show Yvonne how much I appreciated her hard work, I made her a cup of hot chocolate. When she came in from carrying firewood, I handed it to her and said, “Honey, a lot of guys have nice wives, but you are the best of all.”