To My Love, with All My Heart ...

He’s patient and kind.

He makes me laugh the loudest (sorry, dad!) and he dries away my tears so often …

He wraps my wounds and heals me …

He writes, he draws, he plays music, he cooks, he cleans, he makes pictures and woodworking …

He loves to drive and eat … A lot.

He loves ice-cream, squirrels, birds, kitties, and pups, and he loves me – but I am not sure where in this hierarchy I fall. It doesn’t matter – I am honored to be in the hierarchy at all …

He is as tough as nails and as soft as jell-o ... 

He can take more than anyone I know and he has the most tender heart ... 

To most people, he is the most serious man alive, and to me – he is the biggest joker there ever was …

We talk about computers, “brilliant code”, English, foreign languages, geography, politics, books, where our next adventure will be, our day-to-day boring lives, picture-taking, decorating, building homes … and the list can go on forever …

He’s my best friend, the human that I spend the most time with, the first thought I have in the morning, the last one as I slip into the night …

I am still in awe that two humans who grew up so differently, in such remote corners of the planet could finally meet and click so much. That two such humans can be so alike in the same weird ways …

I am humbled every day that he shares his life with me.

I never believed in the meaning of ‘forever’ till I met him … He fills my heart, my senses, my every day …

If there is one thing I hate about this man is that I did not meet him sooner ... 

There is no amount of words that I can string together to tell you more about him. None of them would do him justice …

I put this video together to celebrate his craziness and quirks, his sweetness and sass, and to amuse him and all who know him. I hope this worked.

I love you, babe! Today more than always before…

To My Brother-In-Law

My brother-in-law came into our family some 24 years ago or so … He was 17 at the time. He has grown up with us, and we have gotten older with him. To say that he feels more like a blood relative than an in-law is an understatement.

Although we’ve had our differences, we’ve made so many beautiful memories together – beach trips, parties, weddings, and baptisms, family visits – a lifetime. Today, on his birthday, these memories are all coming back. They make me smile, they make me laugh out loud, and sometimes make me shake my head and grin, too ... 

The memories that are the dearest to me are those where I felt like, despite any difference of opinion (what would families be without those, eh?!), we have all let our guard down and we embraced each other as true relatives, branches on the same family tree. Those are the moments when I know he’s gotten our back and I hope he knows we’ve got his - no matter what …

There were beach trips in Romania where I watched the love between him and my sister bud and grow; there were nights in clubs as we were all experiencing our younger years – he is has always been a good companion for any kind of fun-having activity. Then, there were the Canada – US years where I watched him and my sister become parents and grow into wonderful, well-rounded adults.

His mainstay in our family has always been strong and my sister’s reliance on him constant … Their love always there, unfettered. It is an understatement to say that this family would not be the same without him. 

Happy birthday, my friend! Happy new year of life and may we make ever so many more memories going forward together. Love having you in this family! Truly.

"When he was little and I was young" - this is how far back we go: cca 1996-1997

For Kevin

Dear Kevin, 

I have known I loved you since way before you were born. Maybe even before you were even in your mami’s tummy! Way before that cold February day, when I was driving down I-15 (aka “The Interstate of Death”) from Salt Lake City in Utah when your grandma, nani, called me to tell me you had arrived. I had come to Canada about 2 weeks before that day to witness your arrival in person. But nope, you wanted no visitors, nor witnesses. You pretty much arrived, I was told, when your mami was virtually all alone in the hospital room. And to this day, you can do without an audience.

9 years later you’ve become this bundle of energy and laughter that no one saw coming. Everyone who knows you says they cannot resist you anything. You charm, you lure, you seduce, you break hearts. Already. And we all fall like flies under your spell …

Why do we love you?! Let me count the reasons, our sweet Kev-Kev: we love your brains - you are the family’s whiz in math, no matter how much you’d fight it: you’re the only one who figures out math brain twisters; we love your thirst for knowledge as you read non-stop and  you play games beyond your years; and, boy, do we love how even being the littlest of us all doesn’t faze you: you keep all of us in line: no party, no noise, no people, no presents! We love your heart – one of the most beautiful things about you: your love, care and respect of the animals and the planet. Your kindness to other kids less fortunate than you, your kindness to all creatures that cannot help themselves. I hope your dream to have a bunny and kitty farm one day will become true. I want to help with that!

My favorite memories with you are many, but I wanted to leave just one note here about one of the funniest, more memorable things you said recently. You tell us all the time you love us, and we thank you for that huge, unconditional gift. This is a recent exchange of affection between you and your mami:

Your mom: Kevin, I love you more.
You: I love YOU more than you love me more.
Your mom: That’s not possible.
You: That is very super possible, because I am a possible man. And I am a legendary weapon of love.

We can never love you back enough, sweet boy! May you always believe that anything is “very super possible”, and may you grow into a beautiful young man from the special (still) boy you are today.  

Happiest of birthdays today and I hope it involves ribs, at some point. Or soon!

“Keepers of the Light”

Try as you may, you can never predict history. You can live it, help write it, learn it, and try as hard as you can to not repeat it. Or maybe some history does beg repeating …

22 years ago last month, on January 19, 1998, I flew to America in search of a new home. I was looking for a better life, opportunities, respect for who I am and for freedom. Nowadays, I sometimes find myself asking if it was all worth it. For the most part, I got most of it. But some things are starting to look like they might turn into the bad, haunting history I left behind … But I can’t despair. I am keeping the light burning in the belief that one day America will again be that beautiful place that was once promised … bountiful, but mostly respectful for all.

Regardless of how kind or not America has been to me in the past 22 years, I always celebrate this anniversary. I celebrate that wild spirit, that courage of a single young woman to want to build a life as she wished she should live it. I usually take a trip which is my favorite present to myself for any occasion. This year the trip was to The Outer Banks of North Carolina and to Manteo. 

It was cold. It was so cold, in fact, that one day it snowed. But it was beautiful! Mountains will forever be my soul’s heaven, but the tranquility of the water is magical too. The richness it hides, the pulsating life … The sunsets are as glorious here as they are in the mountains, for very different reasons …

Mountains make me speechless. Water makes me think.

Although we drove and walked in many a cities during this trip, we found good food and great parks, my favorite spots were The Elizabethan Gardens in Manteo, and the drive all the way down to Cape Hatteras. That’s one of those journeys to “the end of the world.” For us, there was a sun dipping in the water on that end, and we felt like the world was over right then and there and for good. A sort of breathtaking desperation you feel in the pit of your chest when the sun just melts in the water. Will it ever know how to float?!  

Enjoy the picture journey of this trip by clicking the shot below. And in case you’re wondering: I would do it in a heartbeat, again, even knowing what I know now … In the end, it was mostly worth it than not …