Country Rican

We met through Match.com.  Yup.  More marriages than any other dating site? That one.  We emailed a few times, and talked about movies, mostly.  We liked the same few movies we had just watched, and so he said we should go see one together, why don’t I call him-and sent me his number.  I sat there in my extra bedroom on that old computer that weighed more than I did and wrote back saying no buddy, you call me, and sent my number.  I hit send and before I could move on to another site (old cable connection) my phone rang. We went to the movies that Saturday, July 31, 2004.  There was a blue moon.  We watched “The Village”.  We have been together ever since.  We have talked every day, we have never broken up, not even for an hour. What we have is the kind of thing that, pardon the pun, happens once in a blue moon.  We truly enjoy each other’s company.  Michael likes to say we were married from day one, because we were lik...

Valentine's Day is fast approaching and as it happens every year, Michael and I get into an argument about it.  He wants to be a sort of Atheist Jehova's witness.  He wants to not believe in God and renounce gift giving as part of his non religion.  I, on the other hand, am a sucker for gifts and gift giving.  I am bitter about being born on Christmas Eve and the absence of birthday parties in school and all that jazz.  I really enjoy giving gifts.  You will never, ever, get a pair of socks from me as a gift.  Never!  Gifts are tokens of appreciation, should be fun, and special.  Occasionally I am open to practical gifts, sometimes the wants and the needs can match up.  For example, Michael once gave me an air purifier for Christmas, or my birthday (they get confused at times).  It was the year I spent Christmas in Puerto Rico without him. He picked me up from the airport and when we got to my place there were several gift...

Main entrance Last week Michael and I purchased an apartment in Puerto Rico.  For those of you who were at our wedding, it is about 5 minutes from where the reception was held, right at the entrance of the small township that is Boquerón in Cabo Rojo (my home town).  For those of you who are not familiar with it, if Puerto Rico were the United States, Cabo Rojo would geographically be where California is.  It it the southern most, western most town in the island and it has the most beautiful beaches.  We claim to be "the tourism capital" of Puerto Rico, but this is an insider's title, since most people stay in San Juan. Cabo Rojo is literally and figuratively as far away from San Juan as a you can get in Puerto Rico. When I lived in Cabo Rojo it was a one stop light town, had no fast food restaurants, no American chain stores, nothing.  It now has about every fast food you can think of, and over 50,000 people live there.  However, it still d...

I am a political junkie.  I am.  I love it.  I know people who would rather tear their own nails out than watch a political debate, but I simply enjoy them.  I have a bachelor’s degree in Political Science.  That means I have read, and read, and read some more about the subject.  It was always fun to me.  I have a Master’s degree in Spanish, in literature.  You can guess what books I gravitated to…politics, history, sociology, current events.  Most of the people who read this know me, so none of this comes as a surprise to them.  But I live in small town where I have only lived for two years, so I am still making friends, getting to know folks.  If this is the first time you read The Country Rican, I am a lefty, a registered democrat, a yellow dog, a liberal, a bleeding heart, a left wing nut job (as Michael used to refer to me when we first started dating).  I think that one is my favorite: left wing nut job. I wear the...

I didn't have a lot of material things growing up.  We were poor.  Not dirt poor.  It's not like we ever went hungry or anything.  But we didn't have a lot of luxuries in our humble household.  Mom and dad both worked back breaking jobs.  My brothers and I had some chores around the house, but especially me and my brother who is just a year older than I, our main job was to study.  We were always in advanced classes and even though we went to public school, we made it in, and graduated, from the best school in our area.  We grew up hearing about the "real" hardships our parents faced in their youth. A constant reminder of how good we had it. I have been fortunate in my life and, as I'm sure my parents planned all along, have a better life than they did when it comes to luxuries in life.  It is easy when you grow up poor to rationalize getting something you never thought you could.  When it came to hiring a cleaning l...

Wow!  I just realized my last blog post was 4 months ago, and it was about Sofia.  LOL  Well this one is kind of about her too...sorry folks.  I promise I have other things to write about,  but with Baby Girl turning six months this week it seemed like the right time to write about my motherhood experience.  I will also add that it is Saturday night, past 9 pm and I just now have the time to sit and write.  Michael is at a bachelor party/weekend, Sofia finally went down at 8:30 or so (half an hour past her bedtime), and I finally had a shower. Nothing on TV but Irene... so back to the computer. I have started to write stuff more than once on other subjects.  I intend to get back to them and post them eventually.  It is just hard to find the time.  I am now back at work full time.  Well, I am usually there by 9 am, and leave somewhere between 5 and 6.  Sofia is with us almost every day, and is quite used to her home away from ...

My friends, my beautiful daughter is now over two months old.  It is insane how time flies when you have a kid.  Which is to say when you are sleep deprived and unbelievable tired.  Don't get me wrong, having her is worth being exhausted.  As Michael told his friend Gus: "Pick a cliche, they are all true." I'm just trying to explain why blogging has not been a priority for me.  This blog entry will serve as an update for family and friends; so be warned, it might get mushy. For the first month after Sofia Carolina was born, my mommy was here to help, which allowed me to enjoy being a mommy without too much stress.  The only real stress came when she had her colic episodes.  I don't know if any of you have taken care of a colicky baby.  It is the most stressful thing I have experienced in my life.  Maybe it's because I'm a new mommy,but your child crying and screaming uncontrollably is a bit much.  Google videos of it if you haven't....