Hola Mexico

Many have asked in the last few weeks where Vince and I will be honeymooning. We'd have loved to visit Italy or Greece, but airfare and hotel expenses would have broke the bank. And really, you want to do Europe the way you want to do it. We decided to wait.

We still wanted tropical peaceful turquoise water and fabulous beaches and culture. We considered Puerto Rico but soon discovered that this little island can be quite expensive since everything is imported. Plus, we'd be on the north Atlantic side of the island where the resorts are - no pristine turquoise waters. Nix.

Finally we reconsidered Mexico. The travel agent pointed out all the positives - our dollar would go further, the waters are clear and gorgeous, we could swim with dolphins, dine with locals at little markets, snorkel, visit the ruins. Perfect. So without further ado, I present the Aventura Spa Palace - our abode from May 7-14.

You Know Too Much

For some reason the other night, I recalled a dinner shared with old co-workers about two years ago. We were sitting around a table in a small intimate Moroccan restaurant on the Upper West Side of NYC before seeing a show at the Lincoln Center. I don't know now what we were all talking about and what it was exactly I said, but he turned to me and said very matter of factly, "You know, you can be so tough at times and at other times, so completely vulnerable." I just sat there. Stunned. To this day, I don't know what irks me more - that this person actually figured me out and whatever mystery or allure I had was gone or that this person had the balls to say it to me. Which is totally something I would do!

I still remember it. I was speechless. I don't know what I did. I bet my face turned a million shades of red. Today's Storyperson hit the nail on the head:

Know Too Much
I have to hate you, she said. You know too much about me to be trusted.

Storypeople

I am a fan of Brian Andreas' Storypeople. These are cute illustrations with little stories. The stories are all positive messages. You can visit storypeople.com and subscribe to the Story of the Day email. Some of these I know from my job and others I do not. Today's I liked:

Crossing the Line
I have too much to lose, she said, if I cross that line. Like what? I said. She could not think of anything that day so she said she'd get back to me. Since then I've been thinking what I would lose if I cross my line & I haven't come up with anything either. There's always another line somewhere.

Heaven knows how many lines I've crossed. If I'm not blatently crossing them, I'm walking them, blurring them, moving them. Pissing people off. Especially the higher ups. But like the Storyperson said - there's always another line somewhere.

Big Rocks First

I was hoping these last few weeks before the wedding would be crazy, anxious, fun, and exciting. The shower at my mom's last weekend was intense - lots of people, lots of conversations, lots of food, lots of gifts, lots of thank you cards. I couldn't believe how many friends and family showed up and celebrated the day and occasion with me. I'm attaching some photos Becca passed along to me.

On the heels of the shower, we had PreCana. For all you non-Catholics out there, PreCana is a mandatory "class" couples must attend before they are married in the Church. Church in the greater sense of the word - religion/community. The class is actually an all day affair where a bunch of engaged couples come together and listen to other married couples give a series of talks on different subjects and how they relate to marriage. We heard stories of managing friends and family (perfect considering how Mike has become the family parasite), about finances (never a fun topic), about communication (Vince is usually distracted and not listening...I will fib and/or exhagerate things - these are all barriers), about spirituality and other subjects. Nobody preached. It was merely to make sure we were openly talking about all of these issues so there would be no major surprises down the road.

So all this warm fuzziness came to a screeching halt that evening when in the middle of watching Walk the Line, Vince's cousin phones us to inform us that Grandpop D has passed away in FL. Vince's grandpop was sick...he was in his mid 80s and his health had been deteriorating over the last year or so. Last weekend he had been admitted to the hospital and was in a coma for a bit. Then he woke and appeared better, talking and all, but his organs were slowly going. Truthfully, he really didn't suffer. He wanted to be in Florida where it was warm and he was. I adored him. He was such a spunky witty old man. Typical old school South Philly Italian. He reminded me so much of my grandpop, my dad's dad. The old stories - they were so similar to my grandfather's stories.

Sigh. The Sleeper song "Miss You" was played as I fell asleep that night. Yesterday I broke down - just angry, sad, emotional. Feeling like our engagement has been nothing but one tragedy after another. His sister, his cousin - Everyone was around, alive for their weddings, to see their kids. Why couldn't that have been us? And this is supposed to be a fun, joyful time and instead we grieve. It's all out of our control, but this weekend I was supposed to have a shower with Vince's side. For obvious reasons, it's not happening. I can't help but feel robbed of this whole fun engagement time. The bad stuff has dampened my time, our time.

It's tiring and my head hurts from thinking about it all. I thought of his grandmother opening the invitation that was addressed to Mr. and Mrs. I thought of how it'd be one more person to add to the program under "In Memory Of."

I digress for now. I don't feel well. I'm having muscle spasms or something. I wonder if it's the flu?