16 years

I am disappointed that Mario will have to leave before Valentine's Day. I am not sure why since we don't go overboard celebrating the holiday. But when I see other couples celebrating, I am sure I will be sad. Once when Mario was away in military training 11 years ago, a neighbor with 4 kids asked me to watch her kids so her and her husband could go out and celebrate Valentine's Day. I was a little offended. Why would she suggest I sit home and babysit and make Valentine's Day harder?! I would have probably offered to watch the kids, but to be asked was offensive to me. It bothered me so much that I packed Eric up and took him to Biloxi to see Mario for the weekend.

So, since we can't go to dinner for Valentine's, I suggested we celebrate our 16 year anniversary of when we met. We met on January 29, 1994 at a Single's Conference in West Palm Beach, Florida. It seems strange to even say 16 years ago. It has gone by so fast. I remember not feeling well and so I almost canceled going with my friends (who were both older, divorced or widowed women.) But Paul H. Dunn was the guest speaker and I had spent hours listening to his cassettes when I was a kid. So I didn't want to miss him. When we arrived at the church, the organizers gave the ladies a dance card to have filled out by the guys during the day. I was so shy so there was no way I was going to ask a guy to sign my card. At lunchtime, when I had no signatures, a friend gave my dance card to a stranger and asked him to help me get it filled up. I was so embarrassed when he made an announcement asking guys to come sign my card. I wanted to crawl in a hole.

Towards the end of lunch a couple of my friends from the Stake, Gloria and Nina, spotted Mario. They went to ask him to sign their dance cards. I walked up to talk to Gloria and Nina and somehow Mario ended up signing my card too. Later when we went into the chapel to listen to Paul H. Dunn, Mario spotted me and went and sat behind me (I had no clue he was purposely sitting behind me.)

Later at dinner, Mario claims that he saw me "checking him out." I really wasn't but I guess it is good he thought I was because then he was comfortable asking me to dance later that evening. I remember either Lori or Karen commenting in the hallway that my future husband could be at this Single's Conference. I didn't think too much of it. Most of the guys that were there were from the East Coast of Florida and spoke only Spanish. So communication was very awkward. When Mario finally asked me to dance, I was so relieved that he spoke English. We danced many times the rest of that evening. I drilled him with questions about his mission like "Did you watch rated R movies on your mission?" A weird question I know, but I had met several return missionaries from the stake that told me some of the forbidden things they did on their missions. So I wanted to make sure Mario wasn't like one of those other guys. I guess Mario wasn't overly offended by my questions because he asked for my phone number and called me the following Wednesday or Thursday.

After talking on the phone, we arranged for Mario to come up that weekend for our first date. Every weekend (except 1) Mario made the 2.5-3 hour trip to visit me. We dated until June and then married in the Washington DC Temple.

That's how it all began.

Clingy

Friends had warned me about what to expect before a deployment. Usually before Mario leaves for a big trip we don't get along well because we are both stressed. I thought that was how this time would be leading up to the deployment. But so far it has been the opposite.

Ever since he has returned from North Carolina I have been so clingy to him. It reminds me of how I felt when we were first married. I didn't even want to go to Relief Society because then we would be separated. Well, 15 1/2 years later, I feel like a newlywed again. I want to sit next to him on the couch, follow him around the house, and not go anywhere without him. I am trying to figure out why I am so clingy. Maybe part of it has to do with his friend still missing in Haiti. It sure makes me realize how short life really can be.

I keep asking him if I am bothering him and of course he is so sweet and says no. He says he hopes that I will be continue to be like this after he gets back and has been home for awhile. Unfortunately I will probably fall back into my old ways and get busy and take him for granted again. But I hope not. I love being around him. He is truly my best friend and there is not another person I would rather be around (yes I did write this, he didn't sneak on to my account again.)

Blog

Mario recommended that I start restricting access to my blog due to his upcoming deployment and the nature of his job. So if you will drop me an email or post a message on here with your email address letting me know that you do read my very boring blog, I will add your email address so you can still have access.

Kangaroos

Nathan and Zachary have always been jealous that our family visited Australia before they were born. They ask if we can go on another family vacation there. What they don't understand is that the only reason we were able to go to Australia is because we lived so close when we were stationed in Guam. It was only a four-hour flight. We could never afford to take all 6 of us back there from the mainland.

But in an effort to get Zach to behave, we told him a couple years ago that if he could go a whole year without screaming or yelling, we would take the whole family back to Australia. We were pretty confident that he wouldn't be able to go a whole year. But since I have gotten better with disciplining him, he has been doing pretty well. In fact, I don't think he has yelled or screamed for almost a week now. Last night at dinner I was telling him how well he was doing and how proud I was of him. Nathan quickly chimed in, "So we get to go see the kangaroos now!"

Fortunately for us, he has 51 more weeks to go! We may need a few more years to save up for that vacation, but it would be worth it. We loved our week in Cairns.

Abuela

Abuela passed away this afternoon. Michael called Mario this morning to let him know that her time was close. Mario said that he often prayed that his grandma would live until he was an adult. He has been so fortunate to have her until now. I hope that will comfort Mario.

Care Packages and Ice Cream Cone Maker

I ordered a lot of gifts from Amazon.com for Christmas. Usually we just recycle all the boxes but this year, Mario kept all of them. I asked what for, and he said they were for me to use to send him care packages to Afghanistan. I thought that was funny because I didn't send him a single care package 12 years ago when he was at OTS. In fact, his roommate's girlfriend would send extra to her boyfriend to share with Mario because she felt bad for him. I know, I am an unthoughtful wife. I did write him and talk to him almost daily though.

So yesterday I asked Mario to go to the post office for me. He returned with more boxes. I asked him if he would like to spend the day shopping for stuff for me to put in these boxes. He could make his own care packages and then I can mail them periodically (or weekly as Mario suggested.) Mario laughed at my suggestion. So I am looking for ideas on what to send him. I told him each package will be filled with about a ream's worth of paper because the boys like to make him tons of cards and pictures.

I saw on a friend's blog that there are waffle cone makers similar to waffle makers. I thought a waffle cone maker would go well with Mario's ice cream maker. Plus I don't normally buy ice cream cones because of the transfat in the cones. So this would be a perfect early Valentines, birthday, or anniversary gift for Mario to use before his deployment. The kids and I were excited about surprising Mario with it when he returned from Charlotte. But Zach said first thing, "Did you show dad his ice cream cone maker yet?" So much for a surprise. We tested it out last night and wow, it is awesome. It was so easy to use and the cones were huge and very yummy. Mario loved his gift and so did the rest of the family.

Another update

Fortunately Mario was able to make it to see Abuela and spend a couple days with her. He arrived at the airport at midnight and was able to get a rental car after all. He went directly to the hospital and was able to spend the night with Abuela and he sent Michael home to get some sleep. Mario had a plane ticket to fly back at 1 that afternoon. But he was struggling with the decision to try to stay longer or come home and see us since he has already been gone almost 2 weeks and leaving for his deployment soon. Mario decided to come home. He turned in his rental car but when he got up to the ticket counter at the airport, he asked the agent about changing his flight to Monday. She was able to give him a new ticket (direct flight instead of a layover like he originally had) for Monday evening at no extra cost. Again, he was wearing his uniform, so I wonder if that made a difference. He rushed back to Alamo and got his car back.

Poor Mario, it has been a real emotional strain on him. He feels so bad not spending more time with his grandma but also is anxious to get back home. I felt so bad for him having to make that hard decision. His father who is an accountant was getting behind on his payroll and taxes. So Mario made the right choice and stayed an extra day so his dad could get some sleep and meet all his deadlines at work. Plus he had an extra day to spend with his grandma.

Unfortunately it looks like Mario will be flying back before Abuela dies. I know that is going to be very hard on him. She is living longer than the doctors thought but she is getting worse and she wants to die. She keeps asking why she can't just die now. Hospice came in and wanted to move her to a cheaper facility but Mario and his dad don't want to move her. So Michael will have to be the one to take up the fight with them.

I feel bad that Michael will have to return home to an empty home everyday. I know that will be difficult for him. Maybe I should be nicer to my kids so at least one of them will take care of me if I outlive Mario. I doubt I will outlive him though since his grandparents both lived into their 90's. Hopefully he got their genes.