My Soul's voice...

Clint found my soul's voice at: http://www.titilayotalks.blogspot.com/ I would have eventually found it once I started reading my email again. It was part of the sojomail we subscribed to.

Naked and Unashamed was the post that I was like "YES!" It hit on every point that I feel is so essential to being and I am most grateful to have succumbed to being nothing but honest - even when it's uncomfortable. AAHH, sure bliss.

"The friend that won't go away" spoke more to Clint. That has never been too much of an issue in my life. I'm the "blind faith" type. I refuse to live w/out faith - that is a sucky place to be in. I have found most of my happiest moments have been when I choose to walk in faith. Yeah, sure I get moments of "oh crap -- what am I going to do?" And in that moment, someone will walk in and say the most needed thing and I'll know it was a divine appointment, that needs to be taken to heart. I get my short lived moments of bitchy-ness, but again something will happen to remind me of higher thinking and how I am so done w/ that negative spinning of wheels, just to think that I am processing and doing something about it. So done! Never to go back there again - not even for a visit.

This is all done in all honesty - not in covering up anything or being blase blase but in that complete surrendering to everything - the good the bad and the ugly. There are uncertain moments but nothing a good prayer won't cover and a quick visualization of letting go and letting God.

Man, just had to write this down and now it's time to go watch a movie w/ the familia.

Updates, updates and random stuff

Update on Carrie. She is still in the hospital w/ a fever. Her fever isn’t going down because the tumors are blocking the meds to get to the infection. She is on oral and IV antibiotics. They are real hopeful that the cancer can be treated by just removing them rather than more extensive measures. She will find out more today since these are just the preliminary findings and they are waiting for the biopsy results.

I haven’t spoken to her. Yesterday she wanted a day of rest w/ no phone calls and visitors. I called her house and spoke to her mother, who is in town for at least a week. I hope Sam is hanging in there. She is still nursed and probably hasn’t been able to in at least a week.

Friday night, Crispin puked all over Jack and then puked all over dad. But then he was all better by the time I got home. He was ready for bed as soon as I walked in the door, but of course I had to eat. I had just gotten home from a grand time at the Stampin’ Up party. This is my third party and I never end up buying a thing. It’s so hard to choose stuff and expensive. You need the paper, the different inks and all sorts of little do-dads to make up some cute cards. I know it’s more for the fellowship, but I do feel bad when I leave w/ out making a purchase. It was fun chatting and laughing like a bunch of giddy school girls.

The pastor came down after the party was wrapping up and asked how I was doing and how Mr. Carter was doing. I told him all about Clint making it to the Alpha Course and he said, “Yes, I know these things!” Then he went on to ask more questions. I feel like I am Clint’s emotional voice – like I can add more to the conversation than just nice pleasantries. I give background information and probably talk a mile a minute, but get all that I think he would like to know. Men – they don’t know how to put so much emo into one conversation. Next time him and Clint meet for coffee, Ken will have more topics to discuss. I think these two are exactly alike, if you ask me - Intelligent seekers that want more out of what they hear and read that they take it upon themselves to do their own research.

****Carrie just called right now and she is feeling much better. Her fever is staying at a temp where they feel comfortable to send her home. Hopefully, she will get some good news today.********

Is there an echo in the house?
Crispin is talking so much and usually repeats the last 2 words of what we are saying. Lately, he’s been referring to things as “my” if he wants me to “ticko” his knees, he will say, “My knees” and lift up his pants. I heard him say, “my juice” In some instances he still in Neanderthal communication w/ grunts, but for the most part he let’s us know what he wants pretty well. Last night, he was having a hard time falling asleep, so I stood up to rock him and then when I thought he was asleep, I got back into bed and he said, “Walk mama walk!” I told him mama was tired and he needed to lay down w/ me and then he said, “ticko my knees.” No matter how tired you are, that little voice makes your heart swell.

He LOVES his snow boots! He’s just like J. I’m debating buying him cowboy boots or rain boots. Maybe rain boots now and then cowboy boots later on. I hope he’s not too much a freak about clothing like J was.

Debbie is lending me a couple of sweater patterns and I’m so excited to get back into knitting something. I found a couple of cute patterns for felted bags at knit picks and I would like to try them out. I’m feeling much better and ready to get into doing something other than just gauging what I am feeling like every minute. The last 3 days, I have thrown up – 2 times because of smells but yesterday there was no warning. I wondered if I might have caught what Creaky had because on the way home from church, J puked all over the back seat. We were pretty close to home, so I was able to get out of the car quick and Clint had to clean it up. J said he felt much better afterwards and that was the end of that. S has been staying away so he doesn’t get it while he’s on the ski trip. I talked to Rina and thanked her for having S w/ them and she kept saying how it’s their pleasure to have him along and how she thinks of him as part of their family. It was sweet. Just as long as they aren’t brain washing him or anything, I’m okay w/ it all.

Proud parents and sad news

On Thursday, S received a letter congratulating him on being awarded $450 towards Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp. It's a 2 week camp for gifted performers. He auditioned a few weeks ago at school and get this - did it all on his own. Meaning he didn't let mom or dad know he would be auditioning for this. He said he didn't want us to stress him out. Understandably, I probably would have been on him about his appearance, etiquette and his lack of practicing his bass at home. Boy, does that boy know us or what? Actually, the way I have been feeling lately, I probably would have just given him the thumbs up sign and gone back to sitting on the couch. Either way, I would have said too much or not enough. I’m glad he took it upon himself to do what he felt needed to be done. I know this is the beginning of many more doors opening up for him. Now, if we can only figure out how to come up w/ the other half of that amount to actually send him to this camp! We will be applying for a financial need scholarship and see if we get anything from that. Spaces fill up quickly, so we need to get him enrolled soon! At any rate – We are so proud of him.

On a sad note here – Carrie, one of the mom’s of my daycare kids is in the hospital w/ pneumonia. She started feeling bad Sunday night and called me the next day to tell me that she would be staying home because they didn’t get a good night’s sleep at all. By Monday night she was headed to the hospital because her doctor thought she might have appendicitis. That was ruled out but pneumonia was ruled in and they were really concerned because this is the second bout of this in a short amount of time and because they found nodules on her right lung and wanted to do more testing. She had been running a fever - was unable to go home and is still in the hospital because of this fever.

Last night while at Nancy’s for a Stampin’ up party, she received a call from Carrie saying that the tumors they found in her lungs where that of 2 forms of slow growing cancer. Her options will be to remove them if they can or chemotherapy. It was a moment of sadness for us all. She is part of our moms’ group and is just an awesome woman all around. She’s so young – I think younger than me by a few years. We said a prayer for her while we were all together. Her dad drove in to surprise her earlier and her mom will be flying in tomorrow. I don’t know if I will have Sam this week or not. Hopefully Carrie’s fever will go down and she will be able to come home, so they can all be together as a family, instead of being cooped up in the hospital room.

It’s a sad situation but she is surrounded by the most loving prayer filled women I know and that in itself is gravy.

Vick's vapor rub and other little things

Crispin has discovered Vick's and oh how he loves it when you put it on him. When he was sick, he would request that we rub it on. A few months ago I was chatting w/ a friend about it and how it was used on us as kids BUT only from my gra'ma. My mom was too hasty and would have rather dosed us up w/ meds rather than sit and rub on us. Thank God, I was hardly sick, but when I was it was always at gra'ma's house. Anyway, I was saying that I think the mere act of having someone physically touch you and rub on you is the healing power of it all and not so much the vick's. She thought that was interesting and had never thought about it like that. I have always thought about this, especially when S was dealing w/ asthma as a small one. I knew just taking time out and rubbing his back would be more comforting that just dosing him up w/ a breathing treatment. Sometimes it was hard to do the physical touching because it takes times and energy and we are so quick to give that up when we are feeling touch deprived ourselves.

Every night before bed I rub lotion on my hands and now every night Crispin will say "for Ki-Ki" and put out his hands and zip down his jammies. Last night I told him that I was going to have a baby and was he going to help me rub lotion on the baby too. He loves his knees and so he made me rub some on his knees too. After moms' group (yeah, I finally made it after being MIA for the last 3 weeks!) a friend gave me an infant car seat and I put it in the front seat and Creaky said, "Baby - knees" and started rubbing his knees. He remembered our talk from last night about helping mom rub down the baby w/ lotion. He's a sweetie pie!

I am having a very good day and hope that it only continues to get better from here on out. Everyone is on the mend. Clint is dealing w/ a bad head cold and since it was day off of school yesterday, he stayed home and rested. He did manage to do the dishes for me twice yesterday. It was a treat since I was battling a killer headache. I am so in that mode - FEND FOR YOURSELF! J had stayed home from school the last two days due to an annoying cough. He was mostly thinking of others than himself. He didn't want to be disruptive. S has managed to not be hit so hard w/ anything. Clint said something about S not getting sick because he got a flu shot and it just dawned on my right now - when did he get a flu shot? I don't think he's had one since 4th grade? I could be wrong. FEND FOR YOURSELF has been the game for a few weeks now. Next week is mid-winter break for our kids and for Clint too. S was invited on a ski trip w/ his best friend. It should be fun and hopefully he is spared from any health issues while there.

It sounds like it's nap time - gotta go!

I'm back - but not for long!

I'm in the throes of morning sickness and it sucks! Every other day is my good day. I'm having a semi-good day today.

On Saturday I found a website that showed what my baby looked like at 11 weeks. I don't know why but it brought tears to my eyes. I've been so consumed w/ feeling sick and how long it will last that I wasn't thinking about the baby growing and having features and such. It was a beautiful moment. It doesn't matter that I feel like I just went through this a few months ago w/ creaky. Clint asked J if he would be able to love another baby and J responded w/ a "yeah" but in like a "what kind of stupid question is that?" It was another wonderful moment.

Creaky turned 21 months yesterday. His vocabulary has expanded so much in what seems like weeks. He's putting 2 or 3 words together all on his own. Last night he showered w/ J and after he was dried off and put in his jammies he said while rubbing his tummy, "shower jack - tank cu" They are so sweet on each other. I have pictures of his art project he made w/ yogurt on the table. I have a few w/ him skateboarding in the house, despite my protest of "skateboards don't belong in the house!" These wood floors only call out to all 4 boys to skateboard back and forth!

These are but a few of the things that I wanted to record here and when I feel better, I will get pictures posted since that would require me to sit in the basement for a few minutes.

PINK EYE!!!!

Monday, Creaky woke up w/ the most jacked up looking face. He had buggers from ear to ear and he couldn't open his eyes. I just thought he rubbed his buggers all over his face and wiped him up and started the day. Clint was the one that looked up the info online and thought we should call the Dr. to make sure he wasn't dealing w/ an ear or sinus infection. Good call - dad! I called and they were able to get him in in the next 30 minutes. Which was perfect because Clint skipped his first class and could get him in while I stayed home w/ the daycare girls.

When Clint got back he said, creaky was fine as far as ears and nose but that he had conjunctivitis - pink eye! I freaked out! I was just thinking how this kid hadn't left the house in days! Poor kid! So, we get all the daycare kids sent home and just spend the day lounging around w/ his swollen face. I have my suspicions of where he might have gotten it from - one from taking a bath w/out dad cleaning out the bath tub. I'm not a clean freak, but things like that freak me out - I would NEVER put him in the bath unless I scrubbed it w/ cleaner and made sure it was sanitized. I would never get in the bath w/out doing that either! That's my one hunch of where he picked it up from. Clint gave him a bath Sunday afternoon while I worked the bake sale at church.

I'm feeling pretty okay. Yesterday was pretty bad for me, I don't know why but it wasn't until the evening that I felt better. I got calls from the daycare moms, they wanted to see how I was doing and not at all concerned about their kids coming back and when. It was very nice of them, one offered to order us a pizza for dinner even. It made my day. I know Clint jokingly thinks I am playing this thing out, but if I could turn it off easily I would! I do start to think about people who have commited suicide because they are always in pain and I think I understand where they are coming from. If this was the rest of my life, I think I would be knocked out on some hard core drugs.

Today is Clint's b-day. The boys are so excited to celebrate and wrap up their presents they bought for him. Clint's meal will be wings ordered from Mr. Spots, since his favorite wing place shut down. I have been having these crazy cravings for those wings from the place that shut down lately. Slade said, "I hope I get to benefit from your pregnancy cravings because I want Wingstop too!" I hope Mr. Spot's is good because I don't want to mess around w/ dinner tonight. I bought Clint's cake from trader joes - the same one I got from my b-day! I bought some yummy strawberries to go w/ it. I hope I can stomach a slice for dessert tonight!

I have been so concerned w/ tuna lately because the other day I had a tuna sandwich that I made w/ boiled eggs and I felt like a million bucks all day. I want to make more but I am afraid of the contaminents that I might be ingesting. In today's New York Times, there is an article written just for me and my concerns. Unfortunately, the tuna that I did stock up on the other day, is the kind that I should avoid - White Alabacore chunk. I need to get chunk light or salmon. I stood in the tuna aisle at trader joe's yesterday for a good 5 minutes just staring and ended up walking away. Now, I know what to look for.

Creaky just woke up and is in total good spirits! His eyes seem ten times better! He's asking for Julia - one of the daycare girls. Those two have a thing for each other!

Another day down

So yesterday ending up being pretty good once Angie got here. She brought Jimmy John's subs and I felt like a million bucks after eating subs and soup. We had a nice time chatting. I feel badly, I think about her often and rarely do I pick up the phone to chat w/ her. She's very much one of those structured people w/ lists and exact times she does this or that. I always feel like I am going to catch her at a bad time and then I will feel like a dork - Doh! I should have known it was time for her to scrub her floors! So, she is always the one hunting me down through email or phone calls and asking to get together. I will do better this time. I kinda consider her my "summer friend" We met her and Tara through gardening a few years ago and we started only seeing each other at various garden get togethers. Since Angie had a baby and nobody close to her has, I think she's looking for some mama friends.

Last night, Clint told J we would be having another baby. He was really excited and already today I have heard him say, "I can't wait till the baby comes!" twice. He's hoping for another boy. He thinks that is pretty cool having 4 boys in one family.

Two nights in a row I have had to get up at about 1 a.m. and eat. I wake up and my stomach is growling as if I hadn't eaten in 3 days. It sucks royally! Today, MLM came over and did our first prenatal. She gave me some B-6 and I took one and felt pretty good all day long except for having hunger pangs even after forcing myself to eat a decent meal. But the B-6 bottle says "sparks energy" something that I need and if I could just get over the stomach stuff - I would be set. I'm starving right now and i'm waiting for Clint to get home w/ jimmy johns again. I want to feel alive again! I hope tomorrow I can wake up feeling good because I need to take the boys shopping for Dad's b-day and other Valentines stuff for school.

Creaky has been so cute lately, he walks around singing "Baa baa bamba" and another song that says "ay yi yi yi" Also, if he hands you something he will say, "tank you, creaky." Yesterday, Clint had the newspaper spread out on the table and there was a picture of an airplane and he said "airplane - up" and pointed up. They are so cute at this age.

Okay, I am going because I am starving and I ate basmati rice and some kind of Indian stuff from trader joe's almost an hour ago. I am waiting for my sub and ginger ale and chips and pickles and...

Sickies have come!

So, yesterday I spent the day feeling like crud. It didn't matter what I did, I felt awful. By evening I felt a little better and dinner was okay but I couldn't shake the feeling. No barfing as of yet and I'm trying to eat protein often but I'm getting to that point where making food is a chore and eating it is an even bigger chore. I know it will pass and then I will have totally wiped it from my memory and think how it was such a short span of time and why was I crying about it?? I have to add that my nipples hurt so badly and everytime Creaky latches on, I feel like he's pinching and twisting them w/ all his might. I kept thinking it was him being a little more aggressive but when I got in the shower and that water hit my chest - I thought I would die. And anyone who knows how bad our shower sucks and how little pressure comes out of the shower head - I must be in pretty bad shape for that spittle of water to hurt!

Last night after dinner, S and I were downstairs cleaning up dinner and he asked if I had already told J and I said I hadn't but we will soon. I asked him how he was feeling about it today and he said he was in a "state of disbelief" he woke up that morning wondering if it was all a dream. I told him we have had a few weeks to wrap our minds around it and so he may need the same. He said it just seems so "boom boom" meaning not much time has passed since having Creaky. He started asking me questions like how it happenend...just kidding - I'm sure he knows how it happened! No, just asking questions like, when did I go to the Dr., who else knew, would I be finding out what I'm having and would I be having a homebirth. He said he hoped it was a girl and how he would be almost 13 years old. I said how he would be old enough to babysit and he said he could probably do this time around w/out hesistation. I told him that was cool that he felt confident like that. He said he would only do it if he got paid. Of course, I said.

Later that night Clint and I were laying in bed and I was so sick that I said I can't even think of baby names and we started joking around w/ some really bad names. Not even names, but more like labels. It was funny and was a bit of comic relief that I needed.

I'm taking the day off today. Skipping moms' group and calling Lan to tell her to keep Alan home w/ her today. I need a day to do nothing of course I clean tonight but that's way later. I'm going to make CeCi Zopa - Garbanzo Bean soup today and hopefully that will hit the spot. Angie is coming over around noon to hang out - I hope I'm not going to be a bad host and lay on the couch the whole time.

Love grows in small houses

Last night I got enough courage to let S know we would be having a baby. Of course, he thought I was pulling his leg. When he realized I wasn't he started bawling. I mean flat out bawling! I told him, I was sure he was upset but to tell me why and I could maybe help him feel better. He was upset about not fitting in his room. A few weeks ago, he told me he was worried about where Creaky would sleep when he got older. I told him did he remember that it was about a year ago that he finally started sleeping in his own room, despite having a bed and room of his own. He walked away without anymore questions. His other concern was about not fitting in our car. I told him that was a concern of ours too and we were working on getting a bigger vehicle and it looked like it would be happening. So, he just sat there and cried and cried. For a moment, I had this impulse to offer him a pony or a trip to disney land or even let him go to that drop kick murphy concert he was talking about yesterday - I felt so badly for him and would have done anything to make him feel better. Since i had just picked him up from a writing workshop and had to head straight to the bank so that I could clean it, that was all the time we had before we got to the bank. It takes me about 20 minutes to clean, so he sat in the car while I went in.

Usually, cleaning is my time for prayer or thinkning good thoughts. I had so much swirling in my head about what just happened - I mean, I knew he would take it badly, but really I thought he would surprise me and take it even better than I imagined. So, I started to get pissed off that he was being a whiny brat in the car about a new baby and how selfish of him. This kid gets all that he desires and has our attention in one way or another. We drive him here or there, pick up his friends and in general try to make his life as peaceful as possible.

Here he was crying like a baby and here i was being pissed about it. In that moment, I had forgotten to even pray about the situation and so I said a quick prayer for both S and I. I prayed for peace and comfort to for S and for the right words to come out of me when I went back to the car - i didn't want to make the situation worse w/ flip comments.

I got done cleaning and he was reading a book and seemed like he wasn't so upset about it anymore. We drove home listening to the Killers rocking out. Once we got into our parking lot, our conversation was back to good and we were discussing B-day gifts for dad. When we walked in, I made sure he was feeling better and let him know that in something like this God is always in the folds and if he had faith that everything would work out fine this would be a good time to exercise it. He said, "I know Mom." and with that we walked into our warm cozy little house where dinner was waiting for him.

First Baby Dream

It started at my grams house on Chestnut street in Las Cruces. I was in her bed and oh how I have always loved her bed. I get my sheet snobbiness from her. She always had the most luxurious sheets and she changed them often. My "Creaky sheets" remind me so much of a similar kind she had when I was a kid. Anyway, I was in her bed and gra'ma was asleep next me and I felt like I was constipated and then I ended up giving birth to a baby girl. I kept saying how beautiful she was and how much cuter she would become when she was a few months old. Gra'ma woke up and I showed her my baby. I was trying to call mid-life midwife to let her know she missed the birth. I think earlier I had talked to her but told her not to worry because I was feeling constipated more than anything. I was so excited that I delivered the baby on my own and it was effortless. Please let that be a sign that #4 will slide on out! There are moments that I get this feeling like I could totally deliver my own baby. BUT then I remember these small moments in my labor where I just can't imagine being in labor any longer and I don't think I could have this cool demeanor about me while pulling a baby up from out of me. ******I just remembered this part: When I was trying to call MLM, I was holding the baby and I put her down and the boys had a mess of lincoln logs all over the floor and they were running around playing. But, when I put the baby down they cleaned up the floor so she wouldn't get into anything because she was now mobile at that point and could roll over. I remember thinking how sweet of them to take care of her like that while I messed around on the phone. That was another frustrating part - when I picked up the phone to call out it was as if it was on automatic dial and voice message. I picked it up to call MLM and ended up calling Pam's house and the automatice voice on my end asked to speak to Felicia! Pam's mom said something about not having anyone ask for her in a long time. I tried hard to ask for Pam but she couldn't hear my voice because of the automated one. My uncle Raul came in and told me that the phone lines where incrypted with something that I couldn't understand. It was so bizarre that I gave up trying to call MLM and got back into bed with the baby and gra'ma.************

When I was pg w/ Creaky, I always had baby girl dreams but they were never infants for more than a second and then they turned to big 3 year old girls and I would sit wondering how that happened. When I first had my baby boy dream, I was in my bed and clint was asleep next to me and I gave birth - again very effortlessly. I pulled him up and noticed he was a boy and not a girl like I had been wanting. He stayed infant and that is when I knew I would be having a boy for sure, despite my desire for a girl. In that dream, I instantly fell in love w/ him and couldn't stop saying how beautiful he was. I showed the boys because they were asleep on our floor and they took one look and saw that it was a boy and went right back to sleep. Clint and I were left to just hold and love on him. It was a beautiful moment in my dream, but one of the many dreams that worked on my heart into accepting another boy. I just thought another boy would throw us off - S was always very much Clint's and J was very much mine and I didn't know where that would leave another boy. It only meant that Creaky was very much ALL of ours.

We will see what the series of pregnant dreams continues to bring. I would still bank on a boy if I had to make a call right now. A girl would be fine but ANOTHER boy would be awesome.

I’ve got soul but I’m not a soldier.

I love that song. It’s my favorite song to hear on the radio while driving. It makes me feel silly that I like it, since it’s a song that the oldest sonny likes too. When did this happen – where we started listening to the same music? If you see any songs on his MP3 player you would think that it was mine or even dads. I could probably do without Weird Al Yankovich, but that is pretty funny if you are in the mood.

Thurs. was moms’ group and I didn’t get razzed much about my stupid comment about being done w/ children. I was encouraged by many and given the “WHAT???!!!” by some. They are all a phenomenal group of women, that I feel blessed to be a part of.

After group, I was supposed to meet w/ the director of H.E.R.O but she wasn’t in. It worked out well, because after group, Crispin and I were ready to go home. I was so tired out and pretty hungry. The full on sickies have come upon me, but it’s just a matter of eating and eating and eating that keeps it at bay.

Mrs. T and I had planned a day of fun for Friday a few weeks ago, so I called her in the morning after sleeping in. I had woken up at 4 and couldn’t get back to sleep because I was feeling sick. I jumped out of bed at 5:30 and made me two egg, ham and cheese burritos and a cup of decaf coffee. I felt like a million bucks after that and went back to bed till 9. She had to take her dog to the vet and then she would call me. Finally, at about 1 she called and I told her I needed to get Creaky down for a nap, so if she had any piddling around to do call me later and see what was going on. I crashed out with Creaky and at 2:15 she called and I was refreshed and so was he. I ate before napping and was starving when I woke up. I decided not to eat and just run out the door when she came to pick us up. NOT a good idea! I know how much she likes to stop and talk and look and while that is fun and all – it’s not a picnic when you feel like keeling over but you have to keep a toddler in check inside the Treasure Mart (antique store). We got out of there w/ minimal damage. Well, I moved some stuff that knocked down 2 glass frames that broke. OOPS! We went to Zingermann’s and bought bread but I could have eaten a hole through all the bricks of cheese and meats at the deli! When we got into my parking lot, we sat in the van for almost an hour chatting. Creaky played for a bit and I called S to tell him we were in the parking lot and about a half hour later he came out to say hi and also took Creaky inside w/ him. We chatted some more. Clint came home and it was time for me to leave to chaperone at Fun Night at S’s school. I was starving, but didn’t have time to eat.

Fun Night was very interesting. I have a whole new level of respect for middle school teachers! It was amazing at how these kids are so grown-up like! Some kids I remember since they were in kindergarten or just got here from another country and here they are wearing little skimpy clothes and shaking their rumpus! It was 2 hours of pure attitude and sassiness! S falls somewhere in the middle and I couldn’t feel more at ease with his level of maturity. He made the honor roll again this semester!!

Today, I had an 8.5 hour class on adult/child and infant CPR and first aide. I thought it would never end! I passed though and that is all that matters right now! Good thing was, I was close enough to Pita Pita to eat it for lunch (again) - was there last night after Fun Night for a falafel wrap. The owner LOVES us. He told S (again) how good looking he was and he could have a job there when he gets older. He loaded us up with free pop and baklava. When I went today, he didn’t fully charge me for everything and told me how beautiful I was. Not in a weird way, but in a very respectful way that didn’t make me shrink w/ shame. He’s a very nice man and I wish him much good fortune in his business.