I've been thinking about putting this baby to bed, but I didn't want to do it without a lullaby.  I'm including all of the lyrics to the song Steady As We Go by Dave Matthews Band because it seems like the perfect end to this story, the perfect song for Jim and Pam as they are today, and perfect words for fans of this show. It's my firm belief that love is made up of little things that may not mean anything to anyone else but they are the things that really tell the story.

Want a multimedia experience?  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0hyeLfIlpg

I'd walk halfway around the world
just to sit down by your side
I would do most anything
to be the apple of your eye

troubles they may come and go
but good times, they're the gold
so if the road gets rocky, girl
just steady as we go

anyplace you wanna go
you know i'll be next to you
if it's treasure, babe, you're looking for
i'll search the whole world through

troubles they may come and go
but good times, they're the gold
so if the road gets rocky, girl
just steady as we go

when the storm comes up, you shelter me
no, i don't say a word but you know exactly what i mean
in the darkest hours
you shine on me
you set me free
and keep me
steady as we go

so if your heart wrings dry, my love
i will fill your cup
and if your load gets heavy, girl
then i will lift you up

troubles they may come and go
but good times they're the gold
so if the road gets rocky, girl
steady as we go

*****

He never calls you 'baby' and he always says he's sorry. He calls you on your cell phone when he's in the next room to ask what you're doing. He turns his t-shirts right side out before he puts them in the laundry. He sits and listens to your father tell the same stories over and over again while you roll your eyes and he says 'why don't you and your mother go out for lunch?' Somehow, he knows how the furnace works. He knows all the words to all the songs but he sings the wrong ones sometimes and when you correct him he says 'really?' and then you realize he knew them all along. He used to rub his feet together before he fell asleep but you told him it drove you crazy so now he rubs his feet on yours, instead, and that's better. He always wants to try a little bit of something from your plate because he says it looks better than his but when you offer to make him a plate he says 'no, i'll just try a little of yours.' His hands are always warm. He knows absolutely nothing about cars. 'Bed head' doesn't begin to do justice to his morning hair. He watches wrestling when you're not home and when you surprised him by coming home early once, he pretended to have fallen asleep and didn't know it was on. He doesn't snore, but he sprawls diagonally across the bed, leaving you with a little sleep triangle. He likes to watch you put your makeup on and asks ridiculous questions until you have to shove him out of the bathroom. He never reads the instructions and it makes you a little insane. He lets you put your cold feet in between his legs at night. He makes a point of removing every tag that says 'do not remove'. He loves everybody when he's drunk. He lets you trim his eyebrows when they go wild. He likes to kiss you when the car is going through the car wash. He's putty in your hands when you scratch his back. He says you look beautiful in the morning. He's your anchor, he's your comfort, he's the one truth you know for sure.

~~~~

She can't figure out how to use chopsticks, no matter how many times you've shown her. She always smells so good. She can't stay in tune at all but you like to hear her sing in the car because she bounces along in her seat and it means she's happy. She yells when she's mad but she lets you put your arms around her when she's done. She burps when she drinks beer. She really does think you can do anything and it scares you sometimes because you know you can't. Your grandmother likes her more than she likes you. When you drive home from work together she says 'let's go home and make the world go away.' When she comes out of the bedroom Saturday morning wearing lounge pants with the biggest, wildest floral print you've ever seen, and you frown at her, she says, 'Like 'em? These pants are lookin' for a party, Halpert.' The table where she keeps her paints and brushes and charcoal and photographs and papers is neat and perfectly organized because, she says, she can't think or work any other way. She cries when they play the national anthem during the Olympics. She can do a perfect cartwheel and laughs at you when you can't. She lays her palm against yours and her fingers are long and graceful but her hand looks so small. She calls you 'Big Daddy' sometimes to tease you, and you secretly like it. She looks so pretty when she wears anything pink. She unbuttons your jeans when you're flat on your back underneath the kitchen sink trying to fix a dripping pipe and you ask 'now?' and she says 'yes'. She can be a sore loser and you can't tease her about it, either. She wants to go to Italy and you're going to take her there but she doesn't know it yet. If she can't fall asleep, she wants you to talk to her because she says your voice sounds like her dreams. She thinks she does a spot-on Ethel Merman. She says you're the only man on her list. When she's leaning over you with her hands on your chest and her eyes closed and her hair falling down, she's the most beautiful thing you've ever seen. She's your compass, the magnetic force that holds together all the bits and pieces of your soul, she's the well you go to when your cup runs dry.