Coming to a close..

Well we are about two weeks away from being in our cozy apartment in San Jose, and yes by now I am looking forward to that! This has been a wonderful trip. Finally meeting Marcos´ family and being able to experience his roots first hand. To drive the streets he´s driven a thousand times over and see the schools that he attended. More than that, to hear the stories of how he was as a child. (Funny enough he was a little like me, kind of cried and pouted alot :) I was able to meet some of his closest friends, spend alot of time with his sisters, nieces and nephews and parents, god parents and friends of the family.. In fact we had a beautiful dinner with a couple who are good friends of 40 plus years to his parents.. The wife comes from Italian descent and the husband is practically Italian by association.. Apparently there is a town near Cordoba with practically all Italian descent, it was her grandmother who was born in Italy.. After dinner the husband shared poetry that he had written, talked about the little things in life that are really the most important and talked about how in love he is with his wife after 40 years of marriage saying, ´More so now than ever.´ I felt like I was in Italy listening to him talk.. He is a beautiful soul, and she too, and I had such a wonderful evening getting to know them. Marcos´ god parents, too, are very sweet.. They have also known his parents for more than 40 years and they came over for the weekend to see Marcos and meet his daughter and yours truly ;) Unfortunatly, I came down with the flu and ended up in bed all weekend. We were supposed to go to the hotsprings where I was due for a massage seeing as it was my birthday!! Yes, classic. Did I have to end up with the flu and miss out on the hot springs.. Yes Kristin Carlson, take two steps back ;) Oh well, wasn´t meant to be..
So as I am well ready to go home, I am also remembering that that means Marcos must say goodbye to his family, friends, country and language for another good chunk of time and for that I try to not be in a hurry. This has been a real trip. No sugar coating. Beautiful yes, easy, well not all the time. And that´s okay. One thing I knew as I got on the airplane to come down here was that this trip was going to be growthful for me. And it has been. It has also shown me how brave Marcos is and how much he must love me. It is not easy to be away from your family and friends, from everything you know and then throw in a language that you must learn really fast or feel like a total idiot. I told him before we came down, ¨I don´t understand why you are so afraid to speak, you know almost everything you need to say. Just wait till I am in Mexico, I will be talking away!¨ Then I got here and I was like, ¨Gulp! Uhhh, yo p-p-p-puedo t-t-tener uh una a-a-a-agua?¨ Oh really big talker? I have so much more respect for him now. The fact that he even came to the US alone, then started working. I´m kinda surprised he didn´t take the midnight train when he found out we were pregnant! (just kidding :) But really, it takes not only alot of courage but the will power to make new friends, enjoy new family and enjoy a different way of life. And I give him an A+ for all of the above.
So upon arrival to our home, things I will be thankful for are: clean streets, relatively clean water, recycling, space, English, MY FAMILY AND FRIENDS!! , my kitties who I miss so much and supposedly have been very good and patient, getting back to work, driving myself around again, going to Santa Cruz, restaurants, being my own boss, chai tea, my bath tub, our king size bed, eating Thai food, eating anything other than Mexican food, not eating tortillas for breakfast and lunch and dinner, cooking, salads, the beach the river and the mountains whenever I want, my farm visits, getting back to music, watching Giselle as she starts out on her exploration of the world seeing as she is just about to crawl and talk, go for my Sunday morning outings, and yet saving all our money so that we can come back and do it all again next year! (Hopefully with some of my friends and family to balance it out a bit ;)
I don´t know if I´ll post too much more, maybe I´ll have some great story to tell before we get back.. Well actually I´m sure I will. And the drive home will be quite a story in itself I´m sure.. But don´t worry.. We will be totally safe, surrounded by our angels.. And hopefully Giselle will be in good spirits as we make the treck back up.. She is chewing on an onion right now! Sweet little gal.. As always, we send all our love and kisses, can´t wait to see you all very soon and thank you for your love and support as we continue to make this wonderful journey!! Besos XOXOX