the army wife

i finally arrived here in el paso last saturday. it's as if i've known the place for a long time, as i pictured everything in my head everytime gary would call since he got assigned here in june last year.

i slept on the plane on my way here, and while i took many plane rides before, i was astonished by the sight of giant nimbus clouds beside the plane--something i've never seen before--when i woke up. they were like ice bergs...or giant cotton candy. as the plane descended, everything on the ground was brown--desert brown. google already warned me of this, but i was far more excited to see my husband than to care about the wilting earth below me.

i always hated airports. being in a long distance relationship for two years, airports equaled gary equaled goodbyes equaled drama. but this time, everything seemed to be in reverse. it was him waiting for me as i came out of the arrival area, and instead of goodbye, we were saying hello to our life together as husband and wife.

while living in manila, i also always wondered how it would be like to have gary with me at the grocery store whenever i see couples before me at the supermarket. well, it was...funny. neither of us knew which vegetable went with which dish, and we had an empty apartment to fill with soaps and shampoos and cleaners and what have you, that we just knew we'd end up forgetting something.

and the apartment. gary can sometimes be modest when describing things. while he said he got us a two-bedroom apartment, he didn't say it was a spacious two-bedroom apartment. or maybe because we have no furniture whatsoever to fill up the space. the living room is big; i could practically roll over it all day. the bedrooms have walk-in closets and the restroom is roomy as well. but my favorite part would still be the kitchen. the place is obviously for a family of five, and to have this much space for the two of us, what's a newly-wed couple to do?

buy a guitar and a keyboard, of course! :P i have always questioned my and gary's ability to prioritize, but with me alone in the house during the day, my thoughtful hubby decided to buy me the things that keep me occupied first. so now at the centre of the empty living room are two musical instruments. and no,we're not sorry about our purchases.

as for my housemaking skills...i have to be thankful for ending up with a VERY patient guy. i love to cook. i really do. and sometimes, i do cook good food. but understand that for the past seven years, i've been living on fastfood in manila, and i have the great cooking skills of our dear ate tess whenever i go home to my mom's house in bataan. so last night, i cooked adobo, which gary said tasted good, although i later found out that he prefers his adobo with some sauce, not fried. this morning, we woke up at 4am (he has physical training at 6am)and despite the fact that we bought a lot of meat products, he preferred a light meal. i made a liver spread sandwich (a note to Reno exporters: you don't make your export product the same way you do in the philippines!not fair!) which was bland, and coffee...i've never made coffee in my life, as far as i know. tonight i cooked afritada, or menudo, or kaldereta. now this really escapes me. why would mama sita make a mix that can be all afritada or menudo or kaldereta? are they not supposed to be different dishes that all taste differently? how come nobody told me this culinary business can be so confusing?

everyone back home is asking me how i'm doing. i'm doing great. i have always been the type to be dubious when things are great and i'm happy but i feel a certain sense of fulfillment when i see gary first thing in the morning and last thing in the night, or when he suddenly shows up at the door when he should be at work, or when i send him off in the morning knowing that this time, i don't have to wait months for him to come back.

so yes, i'm doing great. i have to go ask him to take me out to dinner when he gets here though. the whole mama sita red sauce multi-mix thing just isn't working for me. :P