He was hoping for the tallest tree on the lot.  Our house is not that big.

My niece, totally loving the Christmas Tree farm.

How about that little guy? He’s perfect.

Child labor is one of the many benefits of having these guys around.  Saw away, Boy.

And when you’re done sawing, start dragging.

And don’t forget to smile when we get the decorations up, when you remember exactly why it is we have a tree. I’m thinking someone is looking forward to a present or two.

I think maybe they’ve earned one or two.

I have another home.

Daily Droids

That’s three.  Or seven?  Or nine.  Depends on what you call “home”.

In and around The Heights in Houston.

It seems I like me some eyeballs.

I flew home and arrived on Monday morning, dreading the next 10 weeks away from him but looking forward to my birthday spent with my kids that week. Three and a half days later, on Thursday I got the phone call.

The phone call I hope with all my heart I never get again.

Within a couple of hours, I had booked my flight, made my phone calls, and was on the way to the airport. The kids called their dad and arranged to be picked up and stay with him, and closed up the house for me.  Then I ran. A drive to the airport and a shuttle ride I don’t remember, a nearly 3 hour delay as the plane arrived late and had to be prepared for the long flight, 10 hours in the air, a 45 minute taxi ride to the hospital, and then those doors.

And fear.  I was so afraid.

When I saw him there, hooked up to all the monitors, wires and tubes, and looking like shit but alive…I finally got my breath back. When he opened his eyes and smiled at me, I wanted to fall down on the bed with him and nearly did. He slept most of that first day and night I was there and I didn’t take my eyes off him.

Because he’s a hard-headed Scot, he was too stubborn to stay in bed. By the next day he was walking the (very short) hallway, and the day after that they let us out on the grounds with strict orders to stay “very close”.

Which is what we did for the rest of the week. We walked every inch of the hospital grounds, including the forest pathways through the trees.

And back and forth to the little coffee shop where we made friends.

And on day 4 we snuck out. It sort of became a necessity when we both ran out of clean clothes, and we had to buy at least one change of pajamas. Also, in my panic, I forgot to throw extra underwear in my bag (Ahem) . The day after that I took my first solo trip into Rio to find a few more things we would need.

When he got the all clear after a week, we went home with strict instructions. Take your meds, no smoking, no stress, no work for a while and walk every day.

There are worse places to do your rehab.

Going back to the states that time was the hardest one yet. All I could think was, what if I lost him? Why am I leaving? How do we do this?

Long distance. Life is too short to keep that distance. Our time is coming.

With a last-minute invitation to join a friend and his family in Rio, we headed off to Barra for the weekend.  We had a fantastic Italian dinner in the mall (where most of the upscale restaurants are, and the safest place in the whole city to be) and spent the next morning strolling the beach front and holding hands, trying not to think about my flight back to the states that night.  We thought once I flew home that we wouldn’t see each other again for over two months.

Little did we know I’d be back in 5 days.

They say you can tell which beach you’re on in Rio by looking at the sidewalks, and it’s true.

We found an incredible farmer’s market by accident, and wished we had not just finished breakfast!

Barra was beautiful, as is every other beach I’ve been to there, but too much of a city beach for me.  I’m glad we went, and I have good memories from here, but give me a nice rustic beach away from town any day.

Arraial do Cabo, this time it’s just the two of us.

Our own paths to walk, our own day to spend, our own pace to keep.

Our own hidden path, our own hidden beach.

Our own day to spend as we liked.

It was one of my best days there.  Just the two of us with the world left behind.

Once back home in the apartment, I had three days to fill by myself. One day being completely lazy, and one day wandering the town left me with not much to do on the third day. At dinner with friends, I was invited to spend the day with Selso and his family while they took their boat out on the river.

I love this old broken bridge, and have tried to get good pictures from the car as we drive into town, but never quite got it.  From the water?  Much, much better shot!  Driving the boat under one of those crumbly arches was not something I expected, but loved!

On one side of the river is the “Poor Beach”, and the other side had the “Rich  Beach”.  The poor beach looked WAY more fun!  I wish I could have been one of those kids jumping off the boat.

Instead, we cruised and explored and waved at the fishermen as we wondered why it took six men to land a 10″ catfish.  They were all shouting directions at each other, and pointing out the best way to bring it in.  The laughing and cheering probably had something to do with the beer, but I’m sure the warm beautiful day had something to do with it.

After we docked the boat, they took me out to lunch, then to their house for ice cream. I can’t thank them enough!  An unexpected, lovely day with new friends was a very nice surprise.  It didn’t seem to matter that they spoke no English at all, and I was totally on my own with my basic Portuguese.  We worked it out, and talked about the river, children, life, food and love.  What could be better?  Only to have my heart there with me, instead of stuck at his desk at work while I played.