You know you’re married when you’re on vacation but you still have a honey-do list that takes the entire day. And I don’t know how to do anything here yet! Even so, I got the laundry done (with help); had new keys made; took Ana’s purse to get it repaired (And yes girls, I carried it myself); found a computer store, bought a CD drive and fixed the office computer; and a handful of odds and ends as well. I think I need to go back to work!
Tomorrow and Tuesday we’re planning on meeting new friends. In the process of preparing for the wedding I did some searches for San Martin, the location of our religious wedding. In one of those searches I came across an artist named Geninne who lives in the neighborhood next to the hacienda. She has a shop on the internet where she sells a few of her pieces. I am amazed by her diversity, sense of order, sensible whimsy and the quality of her “work” (I think she’s really just playing hard). She shares much of her work and life on flickr.com. While enjoying her pictures I was inspired to try and share my snapshots on flickr as well. After signing up and posting some pictures I was invited to submit one of my flower pictures to a vibrant group called "The Best Flower Shots" created and managed by Anna (not Ana) who happens to live near here. Both of these women share, online, their strong faith and exciting cross-cultural marriages.
Also planned for tomorrow is the family dinner with everyone in attendance. We are going to the Arroyo which is an enormous site. In the restaurant there are regional singers and dancers from around the country and a bullring, adjacent, that is used for all sorts of events.
Something I’m enjoying is the regular supply of fresh juice. Today we have watermelon; well, we had watermelon. The new taste for today is cajeta. It’s a mixture of honey, goat’s milk and sugar. It’ll put you in sugar shock but you’ll be happy about it. Yesterday’s flavor was esquites. Slooowww cooked corn in a cup with layers of mayonnaise and piquin chile powder (muy picante).History
The time in Mexico was passing way too fast. Every trip has been too short though. When we returned from California I only had three days left. I had hoped to declare my intentions to Ana’s parents before the California trip but there weren’t any opportunities. I knew that I wanted to propose before leaving the country but I had to talk with the parents first. I had to create an opportunity and I needed Ana’s help to do it. Of course, this raised questions. When she asked what I wanted to talk to them about, I just answered “Important things.”
Finally I had an opportunity to walk to the family store, alone, and had “the talk” with Leobardo. We had spent a few hours together, a couple of times, on his buying trips but they didn’t afford the opportunity to talk about marriage to his daughter. Because of those trips though, we had a relationship where we could have a serious conversation. I announced my intentions, explained our history and plans and asked for the blessing. After a short speech he gave us his blessing saying that on his part, there was no problem.
Next, I was able to send Ana to the store for a little while and I had the same conversation with Dalinda, her mother. She told me that she was comfortable with her girls at home but she needed to think of them. She had been praying that God would send husbands to her daughters and believed that I was the answer to that prayer. As I mentioned, the time was passing way too fast. On the day before I was to leave, Ana was picking me up in the hotel. She was going to give me an opportunity to drive but I needed to get my license out of the room safe. Unfortunately, I also had the ring in the safe. When she noticed that I was hedging a little bit, because she was too close to the safe, she was determined to see what I was hiding. After playing around a while, I relented and opened the safe and she saw the box. I’ve never seen eyes as big as Ana’s were. It was the first time she was speechless too. After a few moments she asked if she could see it. Again I relented and showed her the ring. Fortunately, she loved it! What I didn’t realize at the time was that she had been joking with friends earlier in the year saying that if someone was going to give her a ring it would have to have a certain number of diamonds.
My ring had one diamond more than what she wanted. Whew! She wanted to take it with her but I was done relenting. At this point I hadn’t spoken with her parents yet and she couldn’t have the ring. I wrestled it away from her and put it back in the safe. With her help, I was able to have those conversations and finally, on the last day, in a not too romantic setting, I proposed. She accepted. That was a bittersweet time because we only had a few more hours together before my flight. Later, at the airport, after tears, prayers and declarations of love, I returned to Indiana to start preparing for the wedding and my next trip back.
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