Please excuse my absence for the last several weeks, life has been a crazy whirlwind of activity, having Adam & I bouncing across the country and slowly re-settling into our life here in West Texas. We were lucky this year to spend Christmas with my family (sadly, with the exception of my Dad) in Hawaii.
This was our first trip back together since our engagement in August of 2007, and Adam's second
trip to the paradise I spent my childhood exploring.
It felt like an incredible gift to get to spend time with everyone, now that we are all grown and living so spread out. Ryan had just gotten back from a 3 month internship in Afghanistan working a land mind retrieval project, and will be finishing school in Hawaii, just as he said he would when he was in elementary school.
Mom & Dad are halfway through their second year in DC, and as you know Adam and I are still in Texas.
Time with my grandparents has always been important, with the amount of time we spent with them growing up they've always been more like a second set of parents, closer then most can imagine.
My grandfather is struggling with Parkinson's Disease and they now have 24hr CNA care at the house. It's difficult to see their world changing, but I'm glad they have the support and help they need, and that they're otherwise healthy. Pappy's CNA, Meila, is the perfect person for the job. A small Filipino woman in her late 50s, she fills the house with light laughter and soprano notes, bringing joy where there is often frustration.
For Christmas Day, we delayed opening packages until later in the morning, and were able to skype with Dad in DC on the television, it really felt as if we were all together. Adam shocked me with tickets to see Lady Gaga's Monster Ball concert this spring. I was so confused initially when I opened a mask covered in mirrors...I turned it over and there was our ticket information for the concert, and the realization that Adam had re-created the mask from "Poker Face".
For his present, Ryan and I took Pappy out for a burger and drinks at his favorite restaurant, Jameson's By the Sea, and had the chance to spend some alone time together. It was fun being able to have a "Pappy Day" like we did as kids, when he would take us to McDonalds and the movies.
Many days were spent lazing in the sun, and chatting in the house. Adam and I were lucky to spend a night downtown at a hotel just down from where we got engaged. We spent the day walking around downtown and bought him a new wedding ring (he's lost the last two) made of Koa wood and titanium, to always remind us of where we started to become a family. We were able to capture a picture of us in the exact spot he proposed years ago, compared to the original, not much has changed.
Standing there caused me to be reminded that I am so lucky to be so intensely loved by such a beautiful and strong person. Sometimes, I seem to forget he, and his love, are a gift to be thankful for each day.
New Years Eve came, and so did the fireworks! Ryan had bought two crates of fireworks, and Adam bought some as well. We were up until 2am lighting off different sparkling, crackling, explosive treats, along with the rest of Hawaii. The sky was a hazy grey, lighting up in patterns across the sky for hours. As fun as it was, I certainly felt it the next morning when I competed in my very first, and very hilly 10k, the Bosetti. Up at 5am, Mom, Adam and I traveled down to Sandy Beach where I started my race, and was pretty sure I was going to die. But I didn't! I didn't quit, though my hip did twice, and though I didn't improve upon my time, I wasn't any worse either. I'll take it. It felt incredible to cross the finish line and know that I had just raced.
That I had competed in a run for miles and miles in this beautiful place as the sun rose, and I felt so alive! Of course, the three days following I swore I'd never run again! ;)
As sad as it was to leave, after two weeks away from home our bed was practically calling our name, and we were ready to see our "babies". With kisses, sadness and love, we said goodbye to my family and took the red-eye home to Texas; full of icy air, yellowed grass and roaming horses.
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