Homecoming

Well, ladies and gents, so much for me posting a new post daily, or even weekly! But, in my defense, life in the real world has taken precedence over this virtual one. And who can blame me? Last week was chock full of church happenings, since I agreed to read at the Confirmation ceremony despite the fact that I only knew one of the youth being confirmed. It was a nice celebration, albeit a little tortuous since the practice alone took an energy-consuming hour and a half of my life on the day that I closed on Carlos' and my new house! All I wanted to do was help him scrape loose paint and spackle the walls in our new living room. Instead, I joined the ranks of 50-plus bored 17-year olds who could care less how orderly the procession was. But Carlos and my dad had some good bonding time, which more than made up for my discontent.

And then, there was the Wednesday night dinner and a movie with our good friends, Brenda and James. This time it was Carlos' turn to suffer as I stole valuable time that he could have been using to work on the new house, especially when he found out that the movie was P.S. I Love You, which he had sworn he'd never watch as soon as he heard that Jerry, the young husband, dies in the first ten minutes of the movie. But, after sitting (and laughing) through the film in its entirety, Carlos has incorporated the word "bloody" into his vocabulary, to which I always respond with the word, "arse". I'm pretty sure that's a sign that he enjoyed the movie despite his arguments to the contrary! That's good, because he'll be watching it again on many a future night when I'm craving a cuddle and a love story.

But back to the new house! We have our first little nest! Technically, it's my house until we get married and turn it into a marital property with his name on the title, but with all the work he's put into it in just our first week of ownership, he's earned the right to claim it for himself! In honor of our first weekend completely dedicated to home remodeling and lawn work (the back yard looks 20 times better than it did on Saturday morning when we started!), I have composed a poem. This is also the beginning of my plan to become a professional writer (outside of this blog). Let me know what you think!

• Open Doors
  
  We got the keys on Monday and I've got country love
  songs in my head. I keep glancing at your eyes to watch
  that twinkle of anticipation mirroring my emotions as I
  ponder over paint swatches for the living room. I wonder
  if I can figure out how to upholster a couch to match that
  green we both like.
  
  The sun glares off the tongs as you flip the brats
  of our first barbecue. You just learned about Tofurky
  the hard way, but it's not so bad when you eat it as a
  cold left-over with some homemade cheese curds on the
  side. Besides, we've got vegetarian friends who will
  help us finish them off.
  
  That old tree that my dad cut down was blocking my garden,
  but we solved that problem with the help of an hour and a
  saw. Now, I can add "running a rototiller" to my list of
  domestic skills, just as long as I remember to push that one
  button thingy on the back of the machine. I think it's called
  the choke?
  
  As I sat in church, glancing at the sparkle of my ring (Those
  stained-glass windows really make it shine!), my thoughts
  wandered again through my list of items to buy at Home Depot.
  I'll never know what the homily was about that day, but I'm sure
  I heard God talking, anyway. He was saying, "You got the keys
  on Monday, and the doors are wide open! Welcome home."

I'm serious about the writing thing. I'd love to go pro and have had a lot of encouragement to do just that from family and friends, starting with my first-grade teacher, to whom I retorted, "I hate writing," which I truly believed for at least three years. Only recently, in the last couple of years, did I realize that I might just have confused "hate" with "love". So, I'm going to start practicing. This poem was actually inspired by a subject theme on Helium.com, a website for aspiring writers to practice and get feedback and even publishing offers from professionals.

I saw the theme this morning, and thought it was perfect, given the activities of this past weekend! Hence, my first post on Helium.com, which, of course, I just had to share with all of you! I hope to publish much more on that site, and will keep you posted. But, for now, Monday morning is officially here. Time to get ready for work in the real world. Have a great week, everyone!