A Baby Shower Cake

I made this for a baby shower we are holding tomorrow for one of my fellow teachers.

10 Years

Yesterday was a momentous occasion, if a somewhat subdued one. My husband and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary. He cooked a wonderful dinner of pineapple-glazed chicken, rice with pineapple chucks, and steamed carrots. We will have an actual date some other time in the next couple of weeks. This is where we go out on the town and take a break from being parents, and just take time for each other (though that happened last night as well).

We have now been married for longer than the national average, about 7.8 years. We are among the 65% of couples that reach their 10th anniversary. This is one case, where I don't mind following the crowd a bit. I hope, that like my grandparent's that this is truly a "til death do us part" situation.

Marriage is challenging, it takes work. It doesn't matter how much you love someone, you will not always agree about everything and you will not always find them pleasant to be around. They will do things that annoy you, and you will annoy them too. You will also help each other to laugh, and cry. They will tickle you and tell you horrible jokes, even when you don't want them to, because you need it. They will back you up with other people, even if they think you are wrong. They bring home a silly present or make you a treat to give your mood a boost, or just because. They will also call you on mistakes and bad choices when necessary, too. They'll be honest with you about how you look in an outfit, yet also tell you that you look great when you are 9 months pregnant. They'll know just the right gift to get for birthdays and Christmas, or they'll choose exactly the wrong thing and do it with love.

I can't claim to be an expert on marriage, I've only done it once. But I can tell you that for me, the most important thing in our relationship is our friendship. We are friends, partners, and lovers. The friend aspect benefits the partner portion because we share things in common, though there are differences. We enjoy many of the same past times, which means we don't necessarily need a "Ladies" Night or "Boys" Night Out to have fun. The friendship enables us to communicate better, I think, than those that aren't friends with their spouses. The differences keep us in balance when it comes to budgeting, child-rearing, etc. Yet we also need time away from each other, time to ourselves. Giving that to your spouse can be one of the most challenging parts of marriage, knowing when to be there and when to back off.

Thank you, Honey. Thank you for helping me to learn that I could be someone besides who my parents wanted me to be. Thank you for helping me to realize exactly how strong I can be. Thank you for giving up a job you loved, so I could fulfill my dreams. Thank you for our beautiful daughter, and for taking care of the homework stuff to allow me to rest after teaching all day. Thank you for all the delicious meals. Thank you for putting up with all my faults and moods, and much much more. I love you.

Just Needed a Laugh

Thought I share a laugh with you all.

Update on the Bad Day

It turns out that the heart attack was three times worse than they thought at first. Dad has to stay in the hospital until Friday. He is doing well considering. He has been told that he MUST stop smoking. They are probably going to prescribe him the anti-smoking pills, sadly my mom can't take them. I will be going to see him tonight again, now that he's in a regular room. My daughter will be going with me, since she couldn't go while he was in CCU. I really dislike hospitals.

Yesterday was Not a Good Day

Yesterday morning started out normal for any work day, but as I am collecting together my things to go to work I look at my phone. There is a voice mail and a text message, very unusual for so early in the morning. (I didn't hear the phone because it was still on vibrate from work on Monday.) It was my sister, my dad was on his way to the hospital in an ambulance with chest pains.

My daughter had already left for the bus stop, thank goodness. I try calling work, get the machine; so I call my department head. She says she'll get everything together for me and I get my Principal and Vice-Principal's cellphone numbers. I get a hold of my VP, and she says they'll cover my classes for the day. All while I get together some things to take with me to the hospital. Tell my husband what is going on and he tells me, "Go, go, go. Get out of here."

On the way to the hospital I am trying desperately not to get too upset, if I start crying too hard I'll crash the car. I get to the hospital. He's in the heart center, a brand new facility. He did indeed have a heart attack. I have to say they took good care of him, by the time I got there he was already out of the emergency room and in a room in the CCU (Cardiac Care Unit). He had one artery that was completely blocked, luckily they only needed to put in a stint. Though apparently, if he had waiting much longer they would have had to open his chest up again. They said if he follows the rules and "behaves" he could be going home today. So the outlook is good, but somehow I am still worried.

Now my dad had open heart surgery just two years ago, the blockage that time was in a place that they couldn't put a stint in without killing him. After his open heart surgery, he gave up smoking for a little while. He and my mom, another heart attack survivor, began smoking again when my aunt died and they had to cope with her estate. The doctor said, of course, that my dad must stop smoking. I also think he needs to change his diet, he still eats lots of fatty foods.

This scared me pretty badly, my dad and I don't always get along these days. We have very different points-of-view on most things, but all I could think about was my Daddy. The big question in all of this is whether my mom will quit smoking too, or at least take her smoking outside.