10 year Anniversary

We have made it 10 years! How lucky we are to have spent the last 10 years together. September 26th, 1998 was when we got married in my grandma's backyard with all my family and poor Javier all by himself. None of his family had the money or visas to come for our wedding. I can't believe how fast these years have flown by! These past years have been good to us. We have two happy and healthy kids, and we have grown so much-both together in our relationship and personally. For our anniversary we took a little trip to Tahoe for the weekend. My mom kept the kids so we could go. We left Thursday afternoon and got there just in time for dinner. When we left I told him I didn't want to talk about business, money, or kids. So we were quiet for about 5 min. until we thought of something to talk about. I have to admit, it was kind of hard since that is ALL we talk about now. I wanted to talk about things we used to...like funny stories about our families or friends, gossip, childhood memories, future goals, what we love about eachother. You know, the things you talk about when you are newly in love and dating or newly-weds. So we told eachother things that we would never forget about our courtship. I will never forget how he sobbed on my shoulder when I left Costa Rica to come home after my 6 months were up. We were so in love, and we didn't know if we would ever see eachother again. I was so young and he was so poor. How would we ever be together again?! It seemed hopeless.

September 26, 1998

He was able to come on a work/study visa through his university. He borrowed the money for the program fees, which included airfare to Miami and he was able to legally work there for 4 months. Well, he went to Miami, not much closer than Costa Rica. But cheaper to talk on the phone! So we talked every night for a couple hours, him from a payphone outside his work or apartment, and me at home annoying every member of my family. For my 18th birthday we convinced my grandpa to get him a ticket with his flyer miles so he could come to California and meet everyone. Grandma at this point would refer to him as "turkey" because "Javier" was too hard for her to say. She cracks me up! I remember the night he flew in, grandpa drove me to the airport to pick him up. It was arriving around 10p.m. and he had a layover in Denver. I had butterflies in my stomache and could fell my limbs weak with anxiety as we stood there at the gate waiting for him to appear. I hadn't seen him for 6 months and I just wanted to kiss him all over when he was finally within range. People were trickling off the plane in little groups here and there, and the gaps between them were getting bigger and bigger, and my heart began to sink as I worried that he got lost in Denver, or never boarded in Miami for some unknown reason and hadn't been able to contact me to tell me why. Grandpa could feel my anxiety building and gently put his hand on my shoulder and asked me if I had seen him yet. I choked back the tears and replied, "No. I am worried that he didn't even get on." He tenderly assured me that he probably just got stuck behind people and would appear any second. I was glad that grandpa was standing there with me, to keep me from melting down as the disappoint was becoming overwhelming. Then I saw him. I couldn't stop smiling, and the tears came anyway. He slowly walked up to us and gave me a big hug and he looked just as handsome as when I left him. I could tell he felt unsure of how to act with my grandpa there, he couldn't talk to him because he didn't know English yet. Now I wanted my Grandpa to disappear so we could make-out right there in the terminal. Ok Gramps, it was good for you to be around a couple of minutes ago, but now you need to go. The sooner the better. Don't you have a sudden urge to use the bathroom or get a drink? Of course he didn't get it, and just stood there towering over us, sizing up this latino rico suave that was after his granddaughter. This granddaughter that wouldn't stop talking about him for 6 months. On the way home we sat in the back seat and whispered sweet nothings en espanol to eachother. My grandpa's ears were perked, but I knew he wouldn't understand anything. Something I use to this day around my family. We got back to my grandparents house and he met my Grandma, who was instantly sweet to him. I hadn't told him yet that she had nicknamed him "turkey". By now it was almost midnight and they were ready for bed, but we wanted to talk and just be together. Of course that wasn't going to happen. Over their dead bodies were they going to allow us to stay up after they were asleep. So grandpa did what he does best; hoover! We were in the kitchen and I could here him pacing in the foyer-as if there is anything to be doing in there. Duuuhhh grandpa! I know what you are doing, I am just ignoring you! My grandpa is a professional hooverer. It really bugs when you just want some privacy. So I played dumb for as long as I possibly could before he finally summoned us both to get to bed. "You can see eachother in the morning. You haven't seen eachother for 6 months, you can wait another 8 hours," he said. "He had no idea what it was like to be in love and seperated for so long, another 8 hours is an eternity!" I said to myself. I finally went to bed and was a bucket of nerves and didn't sleep a wink. I was so nervous because I thought maybe after seeing me after six months he would decide I wasn't worth it anymore. You know how you think you want something until you have it, then you're just not that into it? I was also nervous to introduce him to my family. I knew everyone was so skeptical and questioned his motives even if they didn't say it. He was 8 years older than me, from a foreign country, no money, etc. All those things didn't matter, because I knew what was in his heart and even though we have always bickered (because of my oneryness) he has always been true to me and never, ever let me down. I love that man!! How lucky I am! I truly don't know who else would put up with me. He remembers the same night, but for different reasons. He remembers exactly what I was wearing and thinking how "hot" I was, as he puts it. As Dr. Laura says, men are simple. My memory of our "reunion" took up about 20 minutes of our car ride and his was one sentence! Haha!

It definately isn't easy being married to someone who is from a different country, and learning a new language, and changing culture, religion, family, and friends. There have been tough moments that most couples wouldn't experience, but also funny ones too. I bet no one has had there husband ask them to make him "muffins with frosting" because he didn't know the word "cupcake", or call gophers "woofers" and watch people pretend like they know what he is talking about. He hasn't said anything like that in a while, but we still laugh when we talk about it.