Home

I'm home!!  It's so nice to be back.  It is weird though.  The house seems big and empty and quiet being here by myself.  I loved living here by myself in the pre-Davie days, and I always thought I would have a really hard time if I ever got married getting used to having a guy around and having to make room for his stuff in my space.  Now I walk around and see all the places he used to have things and it all just seems empty.  However, it also seems clean and open, so I'm hoping maybe he returns with a few less things and my goal for this time apart is to go through my things and try to get rid of some things that haven't been used in a while.  I have things in boxes that have been in boxes since I left Texas 10 years ago.  It's time to either unpack the boxes and put those things somewhere useful or else to get rid of whatever is in there!  My plan is to go room by room and clean things out.  It might actually be a good thing that Davie is going to be gone for a while - I can see it taking me a looooong time to actually get the whole house sorted and cleaned out.  :)  But I need to go through things before he gets back if we hope to bring Eduardo with us.  I don't know much about kids, but I do know they come with A LOT of stuff!  :)  I've got to make some room for him!! 

It hasn't been as hard as I had expected.  I tend to build things up in my head, so I'm not terribly surprised that I had made it a bigger deal than it actually turned out to be.  As I've said before, I can be a bit dramatic.  :)  One of the things that helped put things in perspective for me Friday, as I was sitting in the Managuan airport, eating a breakfast sandwich and feeling like a freak as tears were falling down my face (not a lot of tears mind you, but some), was this article about a couple who found love letters and other mementos that had been hidden in their home by a previous owner.  The items were from the WWII era and the owner of the letters had been in the war.  One of the letters was quoted in the article as follows:

"My Dearest Stan, Sweetheart, it was hard to see you go this morning, knowing that it may be the last time I will see you for a time, which we don’t know how long it is going to be before we see each other again."

So many things about this letter made me realize how lucky Davie and I really are.  We live in a time where we have techonology to be able to talk multiple times a day, email, text, maybe video chat.  We'll be able to keep up with each other and know what each of us did during the day.  And, because I was able to visit Nicaragua, I can mentally picture where he is at any given moment and I know what it's like there from personal experience.  We also know when we will see each other again. I return on March 28th and my flight lands around 11:26am.  We have less than three months to go before we're together for six days.  And after that, I'll go again in May, July, September, November, December, etc., etc., etc. for as long as needed until he is able to return.  We don't have to wonder if/when we'll be together again.  We know we will.  And, because my parents rock, we have personalized, matching calendars to help us count down the days until we see each other again.  :)

We are so lucky in so many ways.  So while our house feels big and empty, I also am reminded of the love that we have for each other and the time that we spent having fun within these walls.  And I look around and picture the future when Davie and Eduardo are home, where they belong, and instead of focusing on empty spaces where things used to be, I see the spare bedroom as a kids room with a fort bed and toys scattered every where.  This time apart is necessary and will fly by, just like the three plus years Davie and I have been together have flown by, and then things will be even better than they have been up to this point!

I still have tons of pictures and videos to post from my time there.  I'll work on doing that as well over the next few days / weeks.  I'll also keep everyone up to date on the latest news from Nicaragua and let you know how things are going with the Visa.  Davie is planning on going to Octocal tomorrow to try to get the police form from Nicaragua.  He's also going to call Costa Rica to figure out what we need to do about that one.  He says he's already bored, but I imagine he'll find enough to do to keep him semi-busy.  His "job" for this time that he is in Nicaragua is to learn English!  So he has his Rosetta Stone and is planning on taking a class in Jalapa with one or more of his nephews.  That should keep him plenty busy! 

Thanks for all of the thoughts and prayers over the last few weeks.  We appreciate it!  It was certainly an interesting trip, but I am glad to be back in the land of running water, flush toilets, warm water showers that don't involve buckets or the outdoors, food that doesn't consist of rice and beans, English television, not seeing my food alive before I eat it, free clinics at work to help me get over whatever crude I came home with (sore throat - yuck!), and so many more things.  :) 

I hope everyone else had happy holidays as well!