He Came Home to See Us

On March 18th two major things happened. We were up bright and early to take Noah and Shoshie to the airport seeing them off for spring break and later on that day, Dom was set to arrive in Albuquerque coming home until March 22nd.

Dom decided not to shave the whole time that we were apart and it was quite a surprise to see him with a full beard. He looked like a rugged mountain man, sexy, desirable and ready to pounce! I didn’t know what Simmi would do when she saw him with the beard, but all she did was look into those caring, kind and penetrating eyes…see his smile and hear his voice and she lit up smiling and squealing. Yes, Poppie was home! I have been away from the computer and took time off from my work to concentrate only on us. It was such an emotionally charged four days, filled with laughter, tears, excitement, playtime and fun. We let the world fade away and made the most of our time together.

I wish I had more time with him and I hope soon that he will be home for good. It was quite an eye opener for him to see our home and what we live with. Its one thing for me to tell him that we are living bare boned, but it is quite another to see it in the flesh. Walking into the house, he slowly scanned each room and I could see the concern in his eyes. The reality of our life and what we have (and don’t have) was overwhelming to witness. We have dishes, cookware, silverware, a table and chairs. There is a couch and chair in the living room and a small TV, three mattresses that sit on the floor and boxes that pose as tables. There are no curtains or blinds on any windows, and we each have enough clothes to get through one week. Looking at our unfinished floor was probably the most difficult to view. When we ripped the carpet up, there was just concrete there. The concrete is partially painted from the last tenants and there is glue stuck to the floor where they glued down the foam that goes under a carpet. Its not pretty, I’ll give you that much! In an effort to cover up the bare concrete and protect us from the chemicals and dust that come up through the pores of the concrete, I put down a very heavy duty plastic tarp. This tarp is BLACK like a garbage bag and sealed at the middle seam with duct tape. The sides are stapled to the wall trim. It is perhaps the ugliest thing that we have to look at every day. At this point we can not afford to do any further work on the house because we need to save money to get Dom home here for good. He will have to drive cross country to get here with his car and the last time he did that in December (bringing my car here) it cost well over $700.00 in gas, food and lodging. But I have to say that with him being here, regardless of what we have or don’t have, our house felt like home. He completes it all and fills the house with warmth and love. With him here I didn’t even notice our missing curtains or forced minimalist style.

Saying goodbye was hard, but it was hardest on Simmi. She does understand what “bye bye” means, and as soon as she heard him say that she began to cry…and then scream. It was a hurt sounding cry, deep and sorrowful. When he gets back to Maryland he is going to try to put together a benefit concert to raise money for him to get home and for things we need here in the house. I thought it was a really cool idea, but I often have doubts about how much we can raise. Its a tough time for everyone in this economy.

If anyone would like to help us out, there is a donation button via Paypal on my side bar. Any amount would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for reading.

Bald Beauty of the Day

Two Months in the Land of Enchantment

We have been living in the “Land of Enchantment” for two months now, and I’m ready to venture out into the wilderness. Living in Rio Rancho has allowed me to acclimate to the landscape and it has also afforded me the opportunity to get lost in the wilderness last Saturday.

I have always stayed on major roads, but for some reason I was a little adventurous, and throwing caution to the wind, I thought I would be able to make it back home fairly quickly. I dropped Shoshie off at the library to finish up a project that she had to do for school, and because it was just a ten minute drive, I didn’t bother to pack a diaper bag or supplies. What was supposed to be just a twenty minute drive all together, turned into an hour and ten minute odyssey adventure into the one place I feared to tread. I traveled down a major road and instead of making a left as usual to get home, I reasoned to myself that since the road ran parallel to the one I usually take, I could just drive a bit further and make a left, finding a quicker way to reach my house and bypassing all the traffic of town. Simmi is in her seat, happy as a clam with her pink sunglasses on, jabbering away to music playing on the radio and I am wondering why as I drive, all the sudden the paved road turns to DIRT! We are now traveling on a bumpy dirt road and Simmi’s squeals and laughter from the back seat are making me crack up laughing. The dirt road is graded roughly so every bump can be felt and Simmi thinks she is on some sort of magic ride. She just continues to laugh and laugh, and I join in until I realize that there is no homes, no street signs and no one around for miles! My laughter turns to the sober reality that this isn’t a magic ride and it has the potential to be the ride from hell! Remember I had no diaper bag, no supplies, formula or bottle with me. At that moment I check my cell phone…SHIT! No signal either. Part of me was in a little bit of a panic hoping that the rough terrain I was now on wouldn’t cause a flat tire and strand me out in the middle of the desert. The directional I have in my truck said I was going west and at some point I would need to make a left and travel south for a while. But what road do I take? There were lots of other dirt roads out there but those roads looked so small and treacherous. I decided to just stay on the major dirt road I was on and it felt like I was traveling forever. Then the novelty of the bumpies wore off and that precious little thing in the back seat started to whine. Now I’m even more freaked out, hoping she isn’t going to have a full blown scream fest since it was her nap time and no bottle was available for her. Finally I see a large dirt road and I decide to make a left and travel down that one for what seemed like an eternity. Looking around at the landscape and the location of the Sandia Mountains, I knew that I couldn’t be too far from my intended destination. Sure enough I make another left and now I am sure that I will be ok. Simmi takes a whack at singing and notices that her voice reverberates as she sings. Amused by her new found ability to manipulate the tones of her shaking voice, she giggles and with eyes rolling, she is lulling herself to sleep. Then all the sudden I see the road and realize that we are gonna make it! Five minutes after hitting the paved road we came upon our street…AH! I was so relieved that we made it out of there without breaking down or having a melt down.

The adventure really forced me out of my comfort zone and into a place that is truly Enchanted. Although I was worried about breaking down and also about Simmi having a melt down, I was able to glimpse the beauty of soft hills, evergreens and the wide open sky. It was eerie being out in the middle of nowhere knowing that there was a possibility that we could get stranded. It made my adrenaline rush and my heart race. I kind of liked it! I saw some wildlife out there as well; a road runner and a coyote…GO FIGURE!

Over all, things are going well. The children are adjusting to school and have made friends and Simmi is just her cute adorable self. I am healthy but somewhat depressed without Dom here. We had hoped to have a nice little chunk of money from our tax returns to finish up what needs to be repaired in the house, but we will just break even. My plans for finishing the painting, the floors and other things that need to be redone will now have to wait. That is depressing too! I want to finish the kids rooms and restore to them the things I promised, and now it is going to take that much longer. They are truly fantastic children and even though they don’t like that they have very little in their rooms (not even curtains yet!) they are being very patient. I am such a visual person, and I find that I get depressed having to live in a place that can not even be finished the way that will make this house a home. I know that in time we will accomplish our tasks and fill this home with art, furniture and the things that the kids have lost, but reality sucks sometimes. Other than that, I really can’t complain. We have a roof over our heads, a semi-hypoallergenic home, beds to sleep in, some clothes on our backs and my husband still has his job. I would say with the state of the economy and the hard times that this country is facing, we are doing better than most…and for that I am very grateful!

Bald Beauty of the day: