Gobstoppers

For two years following Sarah’s graduation from Trinity, she taught freshmen biology in Rio Grande City, TX, which is about 250 miles due south of San Antonio. Now, I know what you are thinking, “I thought driving 250 miles south of San Antonio would put you in Mexico” and you would be correct. Rio Grande City is pretty much in Mexico; it is as far south as you can be in the United States and not be in Mexico.

I am in Rio Grande City, Texas, USA... Sarah is not.

For two years Sarah and I made the trip. One weekend she would drive up to San Antonio after school on Friday, stay for the weekend, and then drive back down to Rio Grande City on Sunday afternoon. Two weeks later I would drive down to Rio Grande City on Friday afternoon and back to San Antonio on Sunday and so it went.

Four hours is a long time to drive alone in South Texas.

Between the two of us, we have many stories about The Road to Rio Grande City, but today I want to talk about passing the time. Sarah typically used this time to catch up on phone conversations or to memorize Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on CD, while I on the other hand found these drives to be an excellent opportunity to eat as much candy and junk food as I could under the pretense that I was on a mini road-trip. Before the drive, I would stock up on candy and caffeine at the gas station and then make the trip in a sugar-fueled haze. My drug of choice was Mike and Ike, Hot Tamales, Sour Patch Kids and Gobstoppers.

One time, before my drive back to San Antonio, the gas station in Rio Grande City was out of Gobstoppers. For four hours straight I thought of nothing but the Gobstoppers I was denied, and by the time I reached San Antonio, there was nothing I wanted more in the world. Instead of returning to my apartment, I went directly to HEB (which is the grocery store in Texas) and purchased a box of Wonka’s finest.

When I got back in the car, my desire to be home and my desire for sugar were both reaching boiling-point. Instead of either, opening the candy before driving or driving home (a full five minute trip), I decided to attempt to open the candy while driving. Unfortunately, Willy Wonka is delightfully quirky in a decidedly evil way, and there is nothing more “quirky-evil” than packaging colorful candy in a box made steel. It was immediately clear that I was not going to be able to open the box with one hand while driving, so I pulled into another parking space (five spaces away from the space I had just vacated) and set to opening the box with both hands.

Before I could open the candy, there was a knock on the passenger’s window and I had to explain to the HEB parking lot security guard that I was “not having a medical emergency, I just wanted some candy.”

It was then that I realized I had a candy problem.

Why Husbands* Are Nifty! (More specifically, why MY husband is nifty!)

(*Maybe not all husbands, but all the ones I know are, especially my husband!)

The subject of this post.

1) One of my professors described marriage as having a warm blanket all around all of life.  I agree with the sentiment entirely, but I also think this statement can be applied more literally.  My husband is great at giving off heat, and this is especially nice on cold nights.  It's like having my own personal heated blanket.  On hot nights, not so nice; I prefer that he not get too close as it becomes overwhelmingly hot (especially as in California our apartment doesn't have AC).


2) He loves my cat (which is now our cat).  In fact, because our dog is staying in Colorado, Sean now spends his time trying to train Zorro.  Now, the cat sometimes knows to sit when getting fed; he also knows how to run around the apartment being crazy when he hears the jingling sound of his kitty toy.  The cat does NOT know how to balance on Sean's shoulders.  Zorro did not enjoy that training session (and consequently, Sean didn't either).  

Sean and Zorro: A classic example of mutualism.

3) He's willing to go grocery shopping by himself when I'm really busy studying.  Now, I had a co-worker who said you really know you are loved when a man is willing to buy you feminine produces.  Sean and I are not yet on that level, but grocery shopping alone seems like a good first step.


4)  He learned that when my attention is diverted elsewhere, I cannot hear him/ anyone talking (something my family well knows).  We now have a code where he says, "Are you hearing me?" three or four times, and then I do!


5) He supports my book addiction.  If you know me, that is very important.  He not only shares his Borders gift cards with me, but he also is willing to invest in more bookshelves when I fill up all the existing ones.


6) He gives the best hugs.  Need I say more?  No.


7) He knows that his violent and creepy video games (like Bioshock) will give me nightmares, so he plays them when I'm not around or in the room.  If I'm walking through the room when the video game is on, he'll pause it for me.  I think this is a result of 1) him being sweet, and 2) him having to deal with me when I have nightmares later.  


8) He pretends to notice the differences in my knitting/ crocheting every five minutes I show him my progress.  He even supports my yarn habit (he occasionally get hats out of the deal as well).

The aforementioned hats

9) He likes Harry Potter.  And Lord of the Rings.  And the Lightening Thief series.  And the Hunger Games.  And Twilight.  He'll even discuss them after we both have read them.  I guess this could probably be tied in with #4, but because books are really important to me they deserve two separate categories.  


10) He does not have stinky feet.  This is incredibly important because in 7th grade I made a list of traits my future husband had to have.  Number ONE on the list was "Must not have stinky feet".  He meets that criteria (and many more).

The Finer Points

It's been four years from our first date.  Not only have we accumulated a lot of memories, we also have accumulated a lot of pictures.  Here are some of the ones you might not have seen.

  

I think these photos speak for themselves.