Mike + Gambling = True Love Forever

Mike loves the casino. I can already see us, retired and traveling across the country in our RV from one casino to the next. He got a letter from Sandia last week upgrading his status to GOLD, which means he is almost on his way to being a little bit of a high roller. I could tell he was counting the days until we could go back. As luck would have it, his sister in Santa Fe needed to meet with him about a job they are working on so we made plans to go for the weekend.

Traveling is one thing that we don’t agree on. He would rather leave the kids behind and spend some time alone together. I love having a break, but hate leaving the kids. When they were younger, we didn’t do it. Years would go by without any time alone together. We have learned that it is important to work on our relationship and in the past year we’ve left them more than the past ten put together. Now, we get away at least one weekend a month. Part of the reason is that they are older. If there was an emergency, I have faith that they would know what to do. They are all able to talk and let us know what is going on when we are gone. The girls are old enough to keep an eye on the little ones. But still…

Saturday night, when I dropped off the kids with their aunt, they did NOT want to stay. Even the older ones were grabbing onto my arms and legs. “Mom, you CAN’T go! It’s Dad’s BIRTHDAY. We HAVE to be together!” It broke my heart. I felt terrible. I went home and got a craft kit with six photo albums. I wrote each of the kids a letter and included some pictures. Before we left, I sent it over to the kids.

We had been driving almost an hour when Mike’s sister called and canceled. The reservation was already made and everyone was expecting us to be gone. Mike called the kids to see how they were doing, hoping that they weren’t missing us. They were. He pulled over to the side of the road and asked me what we should do. Since Sunday was his birthday I left the decision to him. I KNOW that he wanted to keep going, but he turned around and came home.

I was so happy. When we pulled up to his sister’s house, the kids came racing out. They said that as soon as Jon read the letter I wrote him he started crying and wouldn’t stop. What did I write that would deserve that kind of reaction?

Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Jon.
Jon who?
Jonathan Michael, I miss you. That’s who.

LOL… I’m glad we stayed home.

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The terrible two’s were nothing. Echo is ten times worse now that he is three. He cries and screams and throws himself down. If it isn’t his way, he isn’t happy. The problem is that half the time he doesn’t even know which way IS his way. He just wants to be difficult. Today I had a terrible headache. We drove over to Mike’s shop and Echo argued with me the entire way. Mike walked around to the window and I put my head down on the steering wheel, wishing the noise would stop. In just a few minutes, it was quiet. Then I heard a giggle. I turned around and found Mike drawing pictures on the window with a dry erase marker. Echo was watching every move in absolute SILENCE.

I love my husband.