Saturday, 05.19.2012 - 9:39 pm.
Two days ago I thought about coming in here and writing that the 17th of May is the anniversary of Joseph and I, the day, the rainy day in which we started dating. Unbelievable: nine years ago. NINE YEARS.
But I said: fuck that shit. And so I didn't come.
Today Andrew and I painted our new apartment, and his dad came to help us move some stuff. Such a sweet, loving man. He'll help us tomorrow, too, to finish painting and repairing some things. Speaking of that, I love how Andrew always knows how to fix stuff, though he says he doesn't know and is just fooling me. He's got all these tools and I think, hey, I should learn to use tools. And on top of everything, he has a nesting instinct that makes him go one step further in all home improvement tasks.
He cooked yesterday. Got up in the morning to make pancakes, took the afternoon off to work from home and made pasta for lunch. And at night, when he came home from the hardware store where he was buying more paint for today, he locked himself in the kitchen and wouldn't let me in, until he emerged with grilled sandwiches. Since we moved in together we talked about buying a sandwich toaster but never did, even though they're affordable. Visiting hardware stores is like porn for him, so I didn't go with him yesterday; he likes to walk around and see stuff, he can be there for hours. He ends up buying more things than planned, but they're useful things nonetheless.
In other news, my dad had a health scare a few days ago. He got really, really dizzy and was taken to the ER. Nothing came up in the tests, but it seems something in his heart rate may cause him trouble in the future. I think of my family everyday and I miss them so much. It's scary being so far away from my parents, with the additional guilt that I live in a safer place and I can't be with my parents if anything happens to either of them or someone else. We're five siblings, only my sister and Nephew #3 is with them. My brothers and I live in foreign countries, though Brother #3 will return in June, once his wife finishes her PhD in Spain.
My other two brothers live in the US, and my parents were travelling there last wednesday. My niece is graduating high school, which is a bigger deal than usual, all things considered. I've written in here a small part of her life, the part I'd see when I went to Houston nearly every year to visit Brother #1 (his dad) and family. She was sent to boarding school for a couple of years because she was very hurt, angry and violent; I never quite got the gist of it but through all that, you could see she was suffering and also put the family through a lot of pain. But now, I've been told, she's fine. She's moved on and will go to college to be an accountant. I always thought she'd choose art in some form, she is very gifted at drawing, painting and singing. But it's her life and...yeah, ok, she's good with money, too. Anything that makes her happy is wonderful.
So anyway, my parents pushed the date and will travel until next monday. Doctors said it was ok for my dad to travel. He's doing better now and that's a relief. Brother #1 and Brother #2 are doctors (both in the US but in a different state), and they will check him there, too.
I want to see my family. Mom, dad, brother #1 and his wife and Nephew #1 and Niece, sister and Nephew #2 (he may come see me at the end of the year!), brother #2 and wife and Nephew #3, brother #3 and wife. And M, who's the housekeeper but also a family member, a young woman who looks after my parents, bless her heart. And my dog and my cat. My house, my street. My friends and the nice places I go to with them. And I'll stop here.
It's hard to live with a heart in two or more places, with family and close friends in different countries. But also, it makes me realize how much I've got in my life. And I'm really thankful for all that.
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