Spring in the Desert

The desert in spring has to be one of the most beautiful places to be.  I know many of you would argue, but it is all I have ever known.  The rain blowing across the desert is one of the most beautiful sights, and the smell of the creosote bush is something that I love.  For me, it is the smell of comfort.   I wish they could bottle it or make it into a beautiful candle.   And I have to admit that the lightning storms during the summer are the best...especially in Tucson.  The way it echoes off of the mountains.  The way it shakes the whole house, and the best storms are those that just make me want to sit on my back porch and soak it all in. 

The problem with loving the spring is that it never seems to stay long enough for a great visit.  And summer in the desert is just....well... miserable. 

Dear Spring,

Please stay a little longer this year.  I am so not ready to visit with Summer, but if she must come, please let her bring lots of rain and beautiful and bright lightning.  

Love Always,

ME

Holding Hands

So this blog really is not supposed to be about love, but so far it is.  I guess it is because I spent last weekend with my grandparents.  It was Papa Joe's 90th birthday and Magui's 85th.  Who could ever imagine!  The best part of the weekend was watching Papa Joe and Magui sit next to each other with all of us around them.  They were so happy to be surrounded by all of us.  We told them all the things we love about them.  Could you ever imagine a sweeter gift? 

I told them that I loved them for teaching me to love unconditionally.  They love all of us with all of our faults and our imperfections.  They love my husband, and welcomed him into their home the first time he met them.  They told him, at 18, that their home was now his.  I sometimes wonder if he fell in love with me because of them.  Everyone loves them.  All of us, but also all of the friends and family we have taken to meet them.  There home is open… to everyone…no questions asked.  They give you food, but more importantly they nourish the soul.  They care that you are there, and they are happy that you are there.  They have lived in that same house for at least 65 years.  If you listen quietly, you can hear the laughter and the nights of dancing, and the piano playing, and maybe just maybe you can smell the gorditas cooking. 

They taught us about culture and the love of music.  I could listen to Magui play her beautiful piano all day.  When she graduated from the Mexican Conservatory of Music, she was the youngest at the time to ever to do so.  She took me to see Ballet Folklorico.  She taught me about the Mexican culture, and I fell in love with it.  When we were little, they would show us all the old movies with Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly and Betty Grable.  I love to dance I am sure because of her and her beautiful old movies.  I show the movies to Lili and Cade now.  "Singing in the Rain" is my favorite, and Lili loves Carmen Miranda and is so happy when her arms are covered in bracelets "like the girl with the big hat."

They taught us the importance of pride in everything.  Take pride in your work, in your ownership, in your family, and in each other. 

The best thing they taught us was to hold hands.  Papa Joe said they have been holding hands for 70 years.  He told us of how they met and how they married.  There was no formal "Will you marry me?"  Just a ring and then a wedding.  They hold hands when they sit next to each and when they stand together.  (As Papa Joe says, now there is just a cane in the other hand).

As I sat in the movie theater today holding my husband's hand, I made a wish that I could do this for another 60 years.   Next time I see them I need to take a picture of their hands.  Holding on to each other.    

Here It Goes

So here I am starting this blog and wondering if this is really the thing for me to do.  I LOVE to read my friend's blogs and really get to know them better than just what we discuss on play dates at the park,  and I have met a beautiful photographer/farmer that I adore and wish I could be.  I get to see other's beautiful homes and dream what I might be able to do in my own home.   I get to see what makes others creative and great and fabulous and find all sorts of things that I love.  Now you might think I spend hours reading other's blogs, but I don’t, just when it is quiet or I need an escape.  It is like picking up a short story or a novel and reading a single chapter.  The only problem is sometimes, just sometimes, you wind up reading the whole novel because it is just that delicious. 

I think I am just trying to find my own voice and tell my own story.  We will see what happens.  Are you ready?  Here it goes.

A little bit about me might be necessary; I can expand later on the details.  I am my high school sweetheart's wife and a mother, and so many other titles that I can't fit them in here.  We fit the all American mold which to me is not always as cute as others may think.  He was the football player; I was the cheerleader.  I am a teacher; he works for the city.  I have a boy and a girl, a mini-van, a house with a small garden, and we are waiting to find the perfect pet and dreaming of our dream house. 

I am an English teacher by career choice, and a stay-at-home mom because it is what is best for us.  I do love it, and I know that I will miss it when I return to teaching.   Writing this blog will hopefully improve my writing habits and my voice…..maybe I will learn something that I can teach my kids (students).

"Promise on Us" has always been a saying my husband and I have said to each other.

 It is asked when he thinks he is being funny, and I think he is not. 

Him:  "I just ran over so-and-so's bike."

Me:  "Seriously."

Him:  "Yeah, so and so didn't pick it up."

ME:  "Really?"

Him:  "Yeah"

Me:  "Seriously?......Promise on Us."

Him:  Smile, smirk, laugh, "No!  But so-and-so should have picked up the bike."

It is said when something serious has happened, and I can't or don't want to believe it.

Him:  So and so was hurt today at work.

Me:  Promise on us

Him: Yes.

It is the proof of trust and loyalty and all the things we are together.   I can't remember the first time we said it, or who said it first, but it has always been that special thing between us.  It might be said once a year or five times a month.  It is just our thing.