2 Separate Lives…….soon to be 1 life…..

So,…..I have no real pictures to share.

I haven’t really taken any lately.

But I thought it would be a good thing to update how our first two months of marriage have gone. and mostly facts and not sugar coated….because this is real life and not just some story.

Life No. 1- Adam (A.K.A. Prince Positive Hot Pants Magpie Charming…so super sexy and missed) and kids in the UK.

He gets up on Mondays, which he hates, and goes to work, but as soon as he is there he is all sociable and digs into everything he has to do. He works very hard and very accurately and very ingeniously all the way until Friday. Only on one occassion has he sort of gone slower than norm just because he wasn’t in the mood to crunch 20,000 number and handle quality issues and handle project issues and handle molding issues and handle meeting issues, especially with co-workers who lose their tempers…which we all know can happen from time to time. He emails me to ask how my day is and to wish me a good day. he tells how good his day is and that we will soon be together and how much he loves me and sends three kisses. He has even sent me a poem here and there and a pic of him smiling at meXXX. He is always there for me….no matter what.

AT WORK…. He deals with management that is above him complaining they are not working hard enough and and yet the projects they want them to get done are always interrupted by putting out all the small fires of mess up’s and quality issues and people not going by the book or slacking off in a different area……too many indians and not enough chiefs, I say, but the company he works for has a quota to meet and all they can see is it should get done immediately and with out delay and despite any other problems that may arise…they don’t care as long as it all gets done and the numbers meet up to expectations! Everyone is worked overtime,..without overtime…sound like America?

He then spends the rest of his time doing small chores around home playing with his kids, going to the movies or renting a movie to watch with the kids, playing games with the kids, going to aquariums or finding new and fun things to do with them, eating Chinese curry take-out with a bottle of red wine, going to family get together dinner parties and going to barbeques with either friends or family and birthday parties and camping by the sea,….going shopping for the boys here and there and making music on his new birthday gift, Reason 6, or going to pubs with friends from work. He has some nights where he does nothing but stay in.

He doesn’t have his boys everyday….. two times a week and then weekends, unless their mom keeps them that weekend, or Adam has plans.

We did for a time share reading books together online, over Skype, but then time schedule differences and other things happened and we kinda let that go by the way. We had read Fahrenheit 451 and started into Pride and Prejudice. He got this idea a few months ago from another blog he was reading. He was involved in watching the runners in the Olympics and really was excited about it! and also he has been watching Alex Jones,…his favorite non-politician and Youtube for everything.

In the evenings when he is tired…and should be sleeping,..he winds up skyping me ( which makes me feel guilty because he has work or has to get up early because he has plans for the next day to go out with the kids ) and we stay on too long because it is the only time we get. But sometimes we do cut it short for him to get sleep when he works earlies. He does have shift work.

On weekends we sometimes get longer time on Skype and sometimes get to talk to Lewis and Jack as well….mostly Lewis,…Jack is always involved in something else, but Lewis will talk from time to time, if he can get away from the X-box..lol and he is very sweet and nice to talk to. Alot of times, Lewis and Bryant ( my son) spend hours on the computer talking shop…..games and showing each other games while Adam does whatever in the house and Jack plays in the garden. The time difference is a pain in the butt and so is the reception on Skype at times, but neither of us would trade it, for we would go mad without it. It is the only way we see each other.

So,..after making time for me as he has already spent himself on everything else prior ( he never wastes a day ), he brushes his teeth and “hits the hay”. And unfortunately my fault,…he has stopped sending me alot pictures of all he does during his days because I complain he is always having fun without me and he says he feels like he is rubbing it in when he sends pictures of how great everything is there and how much fun they are having. Adam has been soooooooooooo very, very good to me and makes sure he is always good to me and all the kids. He is patient and understanding. he puts up with me alot! he tries to help me with homework when he is tired. He even sends money to try and help out with school things for the kids and sometimes gas and hopes enough is left over we can do something a little fun, but things do not always work out that way for us to get to…and it may be tter for me not to spend so we have it around longer when we need it. I have a thing about asking him for money..it bugs me,..always been that way though….I just feel like a kid who should expect a scolding for having spent the money I already had been given, but it goes to the things it should and isn’t being wasted away on crap….I do not know….I am weird, I guess…lol

Life No. 2- Tamara and kids in America

Pretty much every day is the same.

Monday-Friday (during summer) kids slept until 2pm in the afternoon because they stayed up all night watching movies and or on Facebook. We went to see one movie since Adam has been gone and we went to the park about three or four times in the afternoons.

When everyone would wake, they would be told to eat there breakfast and do their chores, loading/unloading the dishwasher, take out the trash, change the litter box clean up their rooms and clean up any mess they left in the living room or bathrooms if I hadn’t already done those chores myself or a couple of them and a couple my mom.

After chores, they watch t.v. we can’t afford gas everywhere and do not go anywhere really most of the time. We stay home and we watch movies or do chores. We have 24 animals we have to feed and clean up after as well as ourselves. Sometimes we all sit and watch movies together and or zoey will play hair and makeup on me or school or babydolls with me. Madison doesn’t play with toys, but she does do art with me sometimes…if we have time. The kids have been with me 24/7,…as usual, but …..

School has started back.

Monday-Friday we get up at 6:00. I wake  and go turn on the laptop so while kids are getting ready I can email Adam and answer his emails or send him one saying i love and miss him and what the night/day was like so far…I wake Alex first. She has to leave the earliest. Her school is a 17 minute drive there and back in another town. We leave by 6:45, though the last two days she has not been ready and it has been 7, making me have to speed to get the other 4 kids to their two different schools.

I am back here by 7:35 to drop off other two kids at the elementary down the road from us and pick up the rest of the kids…however,….last two days Zoey has been getting up to ride with me and so has Madison.

I drive the next two kids 2o minutes to the next school in the next city, in morning traffic, sometimes speeding a little here and there to shave off a minute or two which counts when you are trying to beat the tardy bell….too many tardies and the get an absence.

When I am back:

My school is also in session, so I make a choice when I get back to do chores and grab a protein shake, or grab a shake and do homework and break later for chores. It usually takes about 2-2:30 to get it all done enough to go on to my homework. I have about 4-5 hours of homework a day and sometimes more if there is a big assignment like what I have now. Yes,…I did finish my essay to Jo Mosely for the scholarship application. 458 words.

Now I have a total of 243 pages to read in separate books, 3 quizzes in three classes and a 4-6 page interview on Childhood with analytic study by Friday.

After school there is no time for my own homework, it is all about trying to get on Skype to talk to Adam before he has to go to sleep and in the middle of all that have constant interruption with the kids shoving papers for me to read and sign, telling them to get a snack and then get on their homework, checking homework agenda’s going over bad grades and good grades and hearing all about each kid’s day…they all take turns at times telling Adam about their days at school. then after homework it is dinner and chores and showers if any take them and get ready for school the next day. And then I send Adam an email most of the times saying good morning to him, for when he wakes.

I spend an hour after he says hello to all the kids when they come home from school, talking to Adam about many things and alot of which is mostly him trying to reassure me that things are okay and will be fine and that he loves me and cannot wait to be with me.

Me, I am alot of times down in the dumps and feeling completely left out of his life save for Skype…and me,… maybe I am not being the best newlywed wife in not always being cheerful for him and full of smiles like he is, super happy and everything is great,….instead of complaining how I miss him and how everything here sucks without him and how I wish we were there living the life he is living.

We are married.

But we live two lives apart. We live vicariously through words on screen and /or words spoken on screen and love the phone calls anytime he can make them now since he updated skype to call anywhere on his cell phone……I never know when I will pick up the phone and it will be him……and I am always happy when it is. he hears the giggle in my voice…..

It is really different,..this relationship, and it really hurts. He always tells me the BEST is yet to come…that things will all sort out …soonly…and I know it, deep inside…….

I also know he is the BEST. I know he is worth it and I know WE as a FAMILY are worth it. XXX I wouldn’t give him up for anything in this world…. I WOULDN’T!

IN THE MEANTIME:

We have finished getting all the things together for the visas and I am waiting the delivery of the package from our attorney, so I can fill it with all the original documents and go to our fingerprinting biometrics appointments on the 4th and 5th of September. Then I will overnight ( which is a JOKE how much it freaking costs!!! 138 dollars plus tax!!) the package with the biometrics added to New York for the British Consulate to go over.

Once they have read the supporting material and application, they give you the thumbs up and send you the visas….We hope it will be soon…we are trying to leave by first week of October, but you know Governments can be slow a times with documents. I am nervous. I will not lie. I am anxious and very nervous about it….only because I want the visas so much!!!!! I LOVE HIM SO MUCH AND WANT OUR FAMILY TOGETHER!!! ❤ ❤ ❤ XXX

So,..there is the update on our lives at the moment.

Galveston, Oh Galveston!

It seems like an age since our marriage and I miss Tammy terribly!! She’s my dearest friend and the most amazing woman a man could ever hope to have as a wife. It’s been a month since we tied the knot and when i think of that it cheers my heart knowing that we hopefully only have 6 weeks to wait until we are together again…..for good!!

However that is not the focus of this post, before that I’d like to share with you some of the photo’s and experiences of our honeymoon in Galveston.

For those of you that don’t know Tammy yet, let me start by saying she is the most considerate and thoughtful person. She never stops thinking about and planning for the things she needs or wants to do / achieve; she has a beautiful mind!

In typical male style, I’d never really thought of our honeymoon until Tammy said “I know where we could go!”

Well, she really hit the jackpot with this idea! In Galveston she’d made the perfect choice!

We were both very excited at the prospect of spending some quality time together, alone, a luxury that we know will be hard to come by in the future, with that in mind we made the most of our romantic break to the Gulf of Mexico!!

Our trip to Galveston would be the first occasion on which I’d drive in the states and I was very excited at the prospect of driving on their freeways, although I was a little anxious when the weather decided to take a turn for the worse.

In America, it’s commonplace for you to be undertaken by massive trucks, at great speed, even during a thunderstorm, rather disconcerting whilst you are aquaplaning beside them!

Despite the rain I really enjoyed the 285 mile (5  hour) trip, which saw us drive SE through Texas to the Gulf coast.

We spoke loads and it was really nice just to spend some time together, full of excitement about our honeymoon and the fact that we were now man and wife, something we both knew we would be from the moment we met.

Houston, Texas

The end of our drive was close as we passed through Houston, a city which was remarkable in that it looked and felt exactly like Dallas to me, however it is an amazing sight to see these skyscrapers jetting upwards towards the heavens 🙂

I love this picture!! Taken on the outskirts of Galveston I think the striking lines make this a great shot, especially when you when you consider we’re driving, great picture babe!!

This squadron of pelicans swooped directly over our car and were so graceful as they decided to escape the stormy weather which I guess they knew was coming lol. Wicked!

The beautiful Coppersmith Inn (Bed and Breakfast) was to be our honeymoon retreat for the next 2 days and Tammy really had scored a gem of a place when she found this, I can’t recommend this highly enough, without doubt a 5 star experience!!

Our room was amazing! Old character and beautifully furnished!!

What a dish!! The oysters weren’t bad either 😉

I’ll admit that I was quite apprehensive about eating these oysters, I think I’d only ever had one before and after a terrible tangle (gastroenteritis) with a prawn baguette many years ago, I’ve always shied away from raw fish or shellfish. I will say that they were sensational, served with a fiery horseradish sauce, lemon and another spicy dip on a crunchy biscuit base they went down a storm!! (thankfully they stayed down too!)

One of Tammy’s favourite pictures, she loves the clouds and I think she’s right, these are the stairs to our room at the Coppersmith.

God!! How lucky am I!!!

These photo’s were taken on our walk from the Coppersmith to the beach, it was warm but damp, with occasional showers that were later to turn into a mini hurricane!! Lol, I’d left the wettest weather in history in the UK and came to Texas and found it raining!!

Love this photo of a pavement that had grown up with the trees!!

Galveston beach isn’t the prettiest beach in the world, but it does have bags of character, the sea wall being one of the famous sights of Galveston, a mural that spans the length of the beach, is abstracted with paintings of imaginary fish, quite nice how it cheers up what would otherwise be a very plain object.

The fishing peer

Baywatch the Galveston way!

The hall of the Coppersmith Inn, a really grand building!

Galveston has made its living off  the oil fields at sea and the seafood. Once it was a rich city and it boasts many old and grand buildings, but they often suffer from devastating hurricanes and as such it does look a little dilapidated in parts, and there are many unoccupied buildings and homes.

We spent a brief but very enjoyable (windswept) 2 days in Galveston, managing to have a 5 star meal one night and a night in with a pizza and a film, it was lovely spending time with my lovely wife.

It was time to leave and go and spend the remainder of my visit with the kids and we had some plans to make the most of our time. So we made our way home and on right on queue the rain lashed down, but as we drove home to Lancaster I couldn’t help but think that I was the luckiest man alive!!!

The driving rain!

The man that created a city!

I hope you enjoyed the photo’s of our honeymoon, there were many more and eventually I’ll get them up on facebook, but I think these are some of the best that we took. Photography is another interest we both enjoy and I look forward to a life of geekyness with Tammy, where we can indulge in each others hobbies and passions.

I can’t think of anything more wonderful than finding your best friend and soul mate and to know that you will share the rest of your life with them!! Awesome!!

Adam x

Fall, falling…..

The first colors on the trees have started their turning.

The trees, so bright green in their summer boasting, now adorn themselves with the first few colors of gold.

They remind me the changing weather brings changing worlds,……………….most welcome, and yet a little apprehensive.

This is the kind of moment you hold your breath for as the first browns, reds and golds are swept in the first gust of cool wind and in slow motion fall to the earth below. The kind of moment you wait for on every breath, heart pounding in the ears, eyes fixed on the direction of anticipation.

A new life. You can feel it in the air,…..coming.

And I can’t wait,…..even with all the unknowns still left to face ahead…….I have never wanted anything more.

To live life with him. To love him always.

How is it, even from 5,000 miles away, he should affect me so deeply to the core of anything I know and understand to be.

He will do nothing, nothing meant for me….a simple turn around the corner,….a movement done 47 times a day……

wash a dish,…….

pour a cup of coffee,…….

taste tests the dinner he cooks while stirring and making a grunt,…..

pick at a mosquito bite,…….

walk past a doorway,……..

and yet,……..physical blows reverberate within me and I find it hard to swallow.

And it is……… wonder-full.

Fall.

Falling.

It is as if that leaf which fell, when it touched the earth, the earth opened up an endless abyss so as to suspend the leaf in perpetual bliss of the fall.

Thank you, God for Adam, for every millisecond of every breath of his life and of this life I am to share with him.