Fiji....part Uno

So many wonderful things to say about our trip. So many that it's just going to have to be broken in to a few posts. Otherwise I fear I might lose some of you rambling on and on and on. Not like that would be THAT different that my normal posts. But it could get picture heavy. And nobody likes a heavy blog.

So I'll start from the beginning. We were excited. So excited. I counted down this trip from about 180-something days out. That's a lot of days, people! And we were THAT excited!!! Look at us, happy and completely unaware of just how long 10-1/2 hours can actually be when you are on an airplane. Well, Linda wasn't unaware since she has flown internationally many times before. But Troy, Tiffiny and I were blissfully unaware.



That grueling, 10-1/2 hour flight was NOT something we were looking forward to. And typical of our vacationing luck our flight was delayed 2 hours at LAX. You know, because being there 4 hours ahead of time to begin with wasn't quite long enough.



It is very difficult for Troy to get comfortable in a good situation (i.e. in our CA King pillow-top mattress) so sitting around at LAX proved challenging. His back did not provide top-quality cooperation so he was nervous and fidgety. But he was up for it. Anything for vacation. This is him chillin'....before he took a sleeping pill to make the trip easier. It was anything BUT easier (for me) but we won't go in to that.



4 spilt cups of coffee, 3,237 instances of unzipping the backpack, 234 times turning on/off the reading light, 4 movies and 0 hours of sleep.....we landed 10-1/2 hours later. 7:00ish a.m. Fiji time. How gigantic is this plane???



Another 30 minutes going through the customs line, about an hour waiting for our luggage, a 20 minute taxi ride and we finally arrived here:





Room I-202. Our home for the next 16 days. It welcomed us from the humidity and sun, gave us a comfortable place to lay our heads at night, a clean place to shower, endless hours of the Three Stooges (they like their Stooges, people)....and shelter from a Category 2 Cyclone.
Yes, the Pryor vacation curse brought with it a Cyclone to the Fijan Islands.

To be continued.....

A very Merry Christmas

to you and yours. Hope your day is filled with everything wonderful! For me....family, friends, the spirit of Christ and these:



I know. I know. The spirit of Christ and Wizard of Oz Nutcrackers. Life is so awesome!

What's that? Someone mentioned a prize?

Oh, you caught that, eh? In this post I mentioned that you should hold on to your seats because there "may be a prize".

I can't believe nobody has called me out on this prize even though I've been back for almost an entire week. But while I am still working on pictures (and have to collect the rest of them from my travel partners) I thought I would fill in some time with a little contest....and give a prize....as eluded to. Hey, I didn't "promise" the prize. I merely hinted.

But first, look at us being all cute on our 25th Anniversary in Fiji



I told someone today what a tool I am. This is just another case in point but it certainly goes along with the whole "everyone cares about what I did during my vacation" self-absorbed attitude that also goes along with the "I'm so funny and important that I should write about my life" blogging brain I have developed.

And sometimes you have to swim through the sewage to get to the beautiful blue ocean, people.

The first person to correctly answer the following five questions wins a $25 Amazon.com gift certificate.

1) What is the actual date of our anniversary (including the year)?
2) What are the names of my 3 dogs?
3) What was my favorite childhood toy?
4) What was the reason I started this blog 2 years ago?
5) Who were the ladies I spent a long weekend with in Canada?

All answers can be found in my blog. Have fun! Winner will be announced this Sunday....but I'm pretty sure some other post will show up before then. Fiji update? Electronic Christmas greeting? Probably some of both.

Until then....good luck!

Happy Anniversary to Us!!

25 years. The silver anniversary. I think they call it that because being married to the same person for 25 years gives you silver hair. At least being married to Troy it does.

And it all started with this:



That phone call from El Paso TX asking me out on a date. 8 months in advance. This picture really is me talking to Troy, but I don't believe it is me on THAT particular phone call. What I love most about this picture is the cool olive green phone with a cord attached. Remember those? How retro. I talked on this phone so much that my brother found it completely appropriate to take a picture of me yapping my brains out. Apparently Troy and I were not to the point of whispering sweet nothings to each other but I'm pretty sure I hadn't farted on him yet.

He surprised me in June on a weekend leave. What a whirlwind of a weekend! I broke a date with some other guy after Troy showed up on my doorstep. Well, Linda did it for me. I remember his name was Jim and Linda told him that I was sick. In a way I guess I was. Sick in Love! (Wow. That was cheesy.) Troy took me to dinner at his favorite local Chinese restaurant. Then the memorable fart happened. The next day we spent the day at his parent's house swimming and such. That night he proposed. Well, sort of. I said yes....had to face Jim with a ring on my finger after my whirlwind weekend...and 6 months later we got married.



Man, we were young! And skinny. And Troy had hair. I was 19 and Troy had just turned 21. My oldest son is currently 6 months older than Troy was back then and I think I would seriously throw up if he told me he was getting married. My middle child is currently the same age as I was and I think I would seriously throw up if he told me he was getting married. And Troy is never letting our daughter get married so I'm safe there.

Man, we were young! It was all just romantic and warm and fuzzy and new and exciting, though. Just right for young kids who knew everything. We thought. We learned a lot those first few years. We learned even more after child one...then two...then SURPRISE! child three.

3 children through the teen years, 11 jobs, 10 cars, 18 pets (that I can actually remember), 9 rented homes, 1 purchased home and one life-changing motorcycle accident later....



We've changed a bit. Both inside and out. And we are always growing and learning and finding new ways to tolerate each other. But one thing is certain. There is always love. There is always determination to see through the changes.

There is always us.

Imperfect.

Comfortable.

Realistic.

In love....and working towards the next 25 years.

I forgot to tell this story

after I returned from Ice Fest. I was reading this post and it reminded me of another *fun and wonderful* thing that happened to me, this time on my flight to Niagara Falls. Stuff always happens to me. (Wonder what Fiji has in store....)

A little factoid for you before I tell this story: I'm a bit of a gassy person. I have been for about...hmmm...forever. I know this is probably way more information than some of you want to know, but you need to know. Trust me. Sitting for long periods of time without getting up and moving around make my situation worse. Some foods make it worse. Anxiety makes it worse.

Troy firmly believes breathing air makes it worse. He may have a point.

So imagine how uncomfortable things were getting after I boarded my connecting flight in Atlanta after sitting for 6 hours on the first leg of my trip. I was still in complete control of things, though. It was all good. I thought.

As I was listening to my iPod at a volume enabling me to drown out the coughing fit going on a couple of seats ahead of me, I sneezed. I tried with all my might to remain in control of all things, but sneezing really doesn't allow you to do that. And so came the exit of the gas.



I'm not entirely sure how loud it was since my iPod was blaring in my ears. The dude sitting directly in front of my turned his head slightly in my direction and I just decided it was because of the sound of the sneeze and not because of any other sounds exiting my body. Yeah. That was it. The sneeze.

When that plane landed I quickly exited without looking anybody in the eye. I was pretty sure I would never see any of them ever again so I'm not about to make chit-chat with someone who may bring up my intestinal issues.

And I told you that story so I could tell you this other story. Because while I am currently in Fiji these posts are supposed to be about Troy and I and our 25 years together.

After our first (and only) date, we took a drive and parked over looking our wonderful little town. We chatted, snuggled, steamed up the windows, chatted some more and then I dozed off a bit. It was sweet, my head on his shoulder, his arm around me.



I opened my eyes out of my slumber thinking, "Did that just happen?" As I looked up at Troy I knew in an instant that yes, indeed, "it" had happened. He just had this sheepish little grin on his face but he said nothing. He just kept smiling.

He still married me despite my obvious fault.

No wonder I kept him around for 25 years.

On us

I borrowed this ("stole" is such an ugly word) from Kayla's blog. I thought it was a fun little way to give you just a snippet of our life together as an old married couple.

What are your middle names?
Ann and Allen

How long have you been together?
Since July 1984.

How long did you know each other before you started dating?
We knew each other for four years before we started dating…if you can call it dating. It was ONE date.

Who asked whom out?
He asked me out over the phone. He was stationed in El Paso, TX in the Army and I was back home in Red Bluff, CA. The phone call was in April, the date was set for sometime in December during his next leave but he surprised me the first weekend of June. I actually had a date planned with some other dude the night after Troy showed up on my front door step. I made my best friend break the date. I’m chicken like that. But it all worked out because Troy and I were engaged by the end of the weekend. Explain THAT when the broken date dude sees your finger…..

How old are each of you?
44 and 46. I married an “older” man. Scandalous!

Whose siblings do you see the most?
Well I see MY siblings more than his and he sees HIS more than mine. Together as a couple it’s probably a toss up because that’s mostly holidays, special occasions or impromptu visits.

Which situation is the hardest on you as a couple?
We’ve been through some seriously difficult things in the last 25 years. I would love to tell you that we braved all the situations with grace and dignity but that wouldn't be entirely accurate. There were certainly some times where neither grace nor dignity existed in our household. It was usually when Troy would not admit I was right.

Did you go to the same school?
Yes. I first saw him in gym class and instantly fell in lust over the poor unsuspecting boy. I’m sure he was the 5th one that day. I could probably read up on it in my high school diary.

Are you from the same home town?
Yes.

Who is smarter?
It depends on what we are talking about. If you want to talk about any kind of war history, Troy’s the man. If you want to talk about the Wizard of Oz, hit me up.

Who is the most sensitive?
My husband is a big, burly manly man of a man who is probably as sensitive as I am….but I cry. He doesn’t. Mostly.

Where do you eat out most as a couple?
Chinese. And if we are out of town? Chinese. And if we get take-out? Chinese. My two favorite foods in the whole wide world are Spaghetti and Lasagna. They don’t have either of those at Chinese restaurants.

Where is the furthest you two have traveled together as a couple?
We are doing it right now….

Who has the craziest exes?
We don’t really have any exes. I guess that makes us the crazy ones. Unless you count my ex-boyfriend from the third grade. I threw up on him at the movie theatre. He went a little crazy over that.

Who has the worst temper?
Absolutely, positively, without a doubt in the world…..Troy.

Who does the cooking?
Absolutely, positively, without a doubt in the world….Troy.

Who is the neat-freak?
If you are talking about the dishes as they come out of the dishwasher – Troy
If you are talking about the pillows on the couch – Me
If you are talking about anything else in our house - *insert hysterical laughter here*

Who is more stubborn?
Absolutely, positively, without a doubt in the world….Me. But it’s totally part of my charm.

Who hogs the bed?
Tilly

Who wakes up earlier?
When I work day shift – me
When I work night shift – him
When I have the day off – whoever has to pee first

Where was your first date?
At a Chinese restaurant. I really should have gotten a clue then.

Who is more jealous?
We would seriously have to flip a coin because neither of us has ever had jealousy issues….unless you count the time I got all butt hurt over him talking more passionately to his plants than me. No, I’m not kidding.

How long did it take to get serious?
We’re still waiting.

Who eats more?
*cough-cough* I’ll just back peddle right out of this question.

Who does the laundry?
Whoever runs out of underwear first. Okay, not really. Our daughter does most of it, he does the rest, I do about 2 loads a month.

Who's better with the computer?
Those of you in blog-reader land that know Troy personally are laughing your butts off right now. Those of you that don’t know Troy personally have just been told the answer.

Who drives when you are together?
Daytime: Troy
Nighttime: Me, mostly
Larger cities day or night: Absolutely me