At 12:15 a.m. Saturday, July 10, 2010 - Tom let me open my birthday gifts! We had received a package from his dad and step mom with my presents in it! One, was a t-shirt that said "Scrap Queen" It's pink and has a pretty design on it! I love it! Then, there was a whole bunch of "Scrap supplies". New file folders for my box where I organize my papers and stickers, sticky notes, tabbies, a journal, a new mousepad (that i can put a picture in!) and notecards with envelopes.
Then, Tom let me open my gifts from him. On our kitchen table, he had said a Bath & Body Works bag - he knows I LOVE Japanese Cherry Blossom body wash - there were four bottles, then underneath the bottles was a BRAND NEW 50 - 200 mm LENSE FOR MY NIKON D60!!!!!!! EEEEEEK!! It's fantastic! I can take upclose, tight photos without my subject knowing I am taking them! I can zoom in, from across the room, and get the freckles on Tom's face! (and he doesn't have a lot of freckles!) It is PERFECT!
After presents, we went to sleep. Saturday morning around 930ish, we got up, showered, dressed, and started in on some coffee. At some point in the morning, Tom had called his dad (who is in Germany right now- more on that in a bit), and left him a voicemail. Well, somewhere in the middle of our second cup of coffee, his dad called back. We had the best phone call with his dad. We talked for probably a good hour. It was fun! After a couple incoming calls, Dad decided he needed to get off the phone and get some work done. So Tom and I headed out to lunch.
Now, for those of you who don't know, my husband is awesome! When I say we headed out to lunch, I mean that Tom kept asking me to give him a number - any number - and it would decide which way we turned, which direction we went, which street to turn down! It was great! Well, we wound up at CheeburgerCheeburger (which is funny, because that's where we went for Tom's birthday in December!) I had the veggie burger, with guacamole and olives - it was the best sandwich I've ever had there, and probably within the top 3 veggie burgers I've ever eaten (and I love me some veggie burger!) We also got their fries - nom nom!
We decided after lunch, we wanted something sweet, so again, more numbers! We wound up at Shake's off of Chenal Parkway! I got their Butter Rum Cake Concrete - it was GREAT! The best concrete I've ever had there!
Then, Tom said "no more numbers, you don't get to pick where we go next." and I figured 'ok, what's he got in store for me now?' GATOR GOLF!!! (for those of you not from around Southwest Little Rock, Gator Golf is a putt-putt place, with two courses, go karts, and batting cages. We did both courses of golf! I loved it!! The first course, we were behind this really nice family - three teenaged boys, mom and dad. Really nice people (but where there are only two of us, and five of them - we kept getting right behind them). Anyway, after the first round, the family went inside the main office (where the a/c was! haha!) then we did too. They were taking a break before they started their next round. We grabbed a bottle of water and a White Cherry Slushie and headed right back out for the second course. It was so much fun! We didn't take score - but we both got a hole-in-one! Legitimately! We didn't cheat!
After Gator Golf, we came back to the house, played a little Lego Harry Potter and cooled down. Then, showered, dressed, and got ready to go out for dinner. Again, the numbers game! haha! We wound up at Crazy Hibachi in North Little Rock; a new restaurant for both of us. It was FABULOUS! For anyone from the Little Rock area, it's kind of like Shoguns - where you seat 6 or 8 people around a table, then a chef comes to the table and cooks all of the food. It was really good! We were kind of worried about the ticket - because some of the stuff was really expensive. We got the Fried Calamari appetizer, then I got Teryaki Chicken, and Tom got Teryaki Salmon. Oh - My - Gosh! it was fabulous! When we got the ticket, we were both surprised to see the bill was only like $35 for the two of us - maybe closer to $40. But if we went to Shoguns, we'd have had a $60 ticket! So, great prices, great food, great atmosphere, DEFINITELY going back!
After dinner (around 9ish) we headed out to find us a movie, we stopped at the Rave in little rock, but I don't like a lot of people - and I really wanted to see Despicable Me - and this was opening weekend for it! so we opted to head out to Benton's Tinsletown, and got to see it there - with almost an empty theater. It was great! SUCH a cute movie! Go see it! Take your kids! Take your nieces and nephews! Take the neighbor's kids! haha! It's so cute! "It's so fluffy I could die!" hahahahahahahaha!
Anyway, now we're back at the house - it's 1:20ish in the morning, and I am so ready for bed. But, before I do, why is Tom's dad in Germany?
Tom's Oma (his paternal grandmother, who lived in Fulda, Germany, passed away Thursday morning). Tom's father is an only child and has been in Germany for the past month with her, after her latest heart surgery. The initial surgery went well (I don't know the details about why they were doing surgery. But we know that the surgery itself went well. Afterwards though, she began to deteriorate. She wound up on life support, kidneys had shut down. The doctors were saying they couldn't take her off of life support, because she could "bounce back". Well, tom's father got to talk to her regular physician and had him talked to the doctor who was taking care of Oma, and convinced him to remove the life support. After they removed the life support, the doctors said she would only have a few days. Tom's father was there. He was able to speak with her, to be with her, and to help her go.
It has been an emotional time for Tom's father, and for Tom. He's never been as close to his father as I am to mine (I'm a daddy's girl - always have been, always will be...) but, with the passing of Oma, both Tom and his father seem to have a renewed sense of becoming closer, really getting to know each other. It's a very amazing thing to witness as an "outsider". Especially, to see it come from both sides. In the past, I have seen where Tom has pushed for that bond, other times where his father has been the one working towards it, but now, with Oma watching down, her boys are going to learn how to go from Father and Son - to Dad and Tom. Now, I know that makes it sound like they had no relationship, but they did. It was just more 'strained'. I don't know if that is the right word. But, it makes sense to me... haha! Sorry to ramble.
Anyway, Dad has a lot of photos of Tom when he was younger that his Oma kept. Dad's come across a lot of things in her home, which he is packing up by himself. I know it kills Tom to not be with his dad, when he clearly needs him near. But Dad knows Tom is here for him and will be with him in spirit. Also, Tom and Dad both have Skype (the internet phone program) and so they have talked multiple times over the last couple of days, and the calls will continue, the visits will continue. They will share memories, and thoughts, and feelings. It'll be an amazing growth for them both, and I'm so proud to be included in it all.
Anyway, I'm done with the talking! I'm going to add my photos from today, and then I'm going to hit the bed! I'm exhausted! lol!
I love you all! Thank you all for the bday wishes! It was so much fun to keep getting emails and notifications on facebook all day with thoughtful sentiments! Thank you again!
<3 Jessica
(The new and improved 27 year old version!)
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