Everlasting Love

Earlier today I submitted a paragraph to someone who is writing a book on love. They were looking for stories of all different kinds of love - puppy love, first love, new love. So I sent in a paragraph about the deepest, truest love I know... the everlasting love that Gary and I share. The person who read it emailed me back right away and said, "...the love between you and your husband Gary seems magical and it's one of the lovelier submissions we've received."
I didn't realize it would be published online quite so quickly, but here it is:

http://www.celebrations.com/content/Everlasting-Love

Nothing says "buy this house" like a blue tarp and some mini-bungee cords...

We're rounding out week #3 with the repairs and renovations in the house. There is nothing we want more than to never see a tarp or plastic sheeting again, but God seems to have other plans. The other day it stormed and a lot of limbs littered our lawn. When we got home from work, we found this note, left by the gentleman working on our house. So we figured we'd go ahead and tarp it - to match the rest of the house...

Plastic Palace and Plaster Pawprints

So the house is undergoing repairs and renovations - we're getting ready to put it on the market (it will be nicer when we sell it than it ever was when we lived in it). We are quickly closing in on the two week mark - two entire weeks that just about everything we own has been covered, taped or tarped. It's been almost two weeks that we've been living in a plaster palace where carpets, cabinets, countertops, light fixtures, lamps, stairs and sinks are draped with plastic. And everything - everything - we own is decorated with little plaster pawprints. We really, really, really want our house back. Maybe next week...?

Bartlet finally gets his cake... and eats it too

After much torture, the birthday boy finally gets his cake. And just like that... it's gone.

Untitled from Mariesa Stokes on Vimeo.

Bartlet gets his birthday cake... almost.

Bartlet got close to eating his birthday cake after we finally sang the stupid song. Poor little Ba-Ba-Booey had to deal with that luscious cowboy cake just inches from his twitching nose and drooling lips - at least until Daddy yanked it away before he could get a big sweet bite. It's still pretty doggone cute though!

(Sidenote: Our house is currently undergoing repairs and renovations. We normally don't line the floors and stairs with plastic sheeting and store all kinds of random crap on the countertops. Gary didn't marry me for my housekeeping skills, but we are living in more of a disaster zone than usual right now.)

Untitled from Mariesa Stokes on Vimeo.

Happy Birthday, Bartlet!

On Saturday, our Bartlet turned 6. As I do with everyone in our little family, I made a big deal out of his birthday and tortured him with ridiculousness. I did NOT make him wear a hat this year, but I did make him wear a shirt that reads, "Just sing the stupid song so I can eat cake!" Here is just a glimpse of the pre-cake festivities...


Oh, and the audio is horrible. You'll want to turn down when you can hear me, and turn up to hear Gary. Bartlet, surprisingly, is silent through the whole thing...

Bartlet's Birthday from Mariesa Stokes on Vimeo.

Mariesa & Gary's TV geek wedding (with a broken foot)

Some of you may recall when Gary and I got engaged, I went a little crazy. ;)



Gary loves to tell this story:

He proposed at the end of the Rock N Roll Half Marathon while we were on vacation in Virginia Beach. That was the Sunday before Labor Day, 2008. The next morning when we boarded a plane back to Birmingham, I got on with at least six bridal magazines in my carry-on bag. The planning started almost immediately. As I always interject when he tells people this, of course it did. I'm a planner. I was excited. And I had been waiting a whole lotta years for him to propose.



As I flipped through bazillions of magazines and surfed a ton of Web sites, I realized just how non-traditional I really am. I kept coming away with that "this doesn't apply to me" feeling. Most of it didn't. I was 37 when we got married. Gary was 51. We have both been married before. But mostly, we really wanted it to be as personal as possible. Not a lot of the information out there will help you plan that kind of wedding event. So, being who I am, I decided to speak up about who we are and what we were planning, how far we were going outside of the box and why it was so important to us. And I spoke loudly. All within about six months last year, I was bravobride.com's Bride of the Month, got our engagement story featured on theweddinglens.com, was interviewed for Modern Bride, Redbook and Bride's magazine (March 2010 issue, "Crazy Love," on newsstands now), and I was quoted on msnbc.com (this one was about the honeymoon, not The Wedding).



But through the whole planning process, there was really only one Web site community where I felt like I truly belonged. The women and couples featured there were my people. I was one of them. They had ideas and passion and fun with their weddings. They were creative and different and understanding and supportive - no matter how freakish I was (or was not). Beyond being married to Gary at the end of it all, I really, really wanted to see our wedding featured on offbeatbride.com.



And yesterday, it was.



Thank you, Ariel and Megan, for providing this service to offbeat brides everywhere, for a truly memorable wedding planning experience (okay, the good parts I'm thanking you for, not the crap) and thank you for choosing our wedding to feature. As I said yesterday to Megan, you chicks rock!



Real Weddings: Southern US: Mariesa & Gary's TV geek wedding (with a broken foot)

Sometimes we just need a reminder...

There are times in our lives when we all lose perspective.
We forget who we are, why we get up in the morning, and what gives us the peace of mind to get a good night's sleep. We get so wrapped up in the events of our days that we lose sight of the relationships that sustain our lives. We hide from ourselves and hurt the ones we love. Usually we don't even realize it until it's late - maybe not too late, but later than it should have been. Always it takes tremendous humility and brutal honesty to get back to where we belong. And sometimes a little reminder of where we came from can go a long, long way...
Every time I have watched our wedding invite video I have cried. I still think it's the warmest, most heartfelt invitation I've ever seen. And today, it's also just what I needed to watch to remember what matters - how deeply I love, and how deeply I am loved.
If you haven't seen it, take a few minutes to watch. If you have, watch it again and send healing thoughts my way.
(And remember to be patient, it takes a moment to load.)
http://homepage.mac.com/jim.taylor/September6.mov

Gilbert Grape's Mom

The last few weeks/months/year-and-a-half have been an unbelievable roller coaster of ups and downs. There have been times I have been able to lighten up enough to laugh at myself, and there have been times when others have laughed at me and I have been surprised at how terribly deeply it hurt.

Last week a co-worker and I traveled for a client. We were headed to an event I had been organizing and coordinating for close to a year. After not traveling for so long because of my foot, it was time I got back in the game, took one for the team, and stopped letting my colleagues pick up my slack.

Aside from the work events, from a personal perspective, I planned and prepared for weeks. I didn't have any concerns about the job part, it was traveling that worried me - traveling as a person with limited abilities.

I got a copy of my prescription for my bone stimulator - because really, who wants to let the girl with the ticking box on her hip through security? I packed my x-rays in my carry-on bag, in case they needed proof of all the metal in my foot. I made sure I had every form of i.d. I own in my purse just in case someone needed something more. For several days before the trip I agonized over the details, imaging every possible scenario that could throw an obstacle in my path. I was terrified of something happening that would make me look stupid, make me appear dependent, or make me admit there was something I just couldn't do. My two biggest fears were these - that they'd gate check my scooter then I'd have no way to get down the aisle on the plane if I had to pee, and that we'd land at a gate without a jetway and I'd have to get down the steps... somehow.

Shelley and I made it to our destination without much trouble - more than someone walking would have, but it wasn't awful. Trip goes... well, it goes... and we head back. I finally make it through security (I'll save those details for another story) and we get to the gate in plenty of time. When it's time to leave, the gate agent calls for general boarding. No offer for people who need extra time to get on first. One would think, what with the wheeled scooter and all, it might be obvious that I needed extra time, but clearly not to this completely unobservant woman. So Shelley marched up to the ticket counter, said something - I still don't know what - then came and got me and we worked our way in line behind 50 other people. Then the same gate agent, in a huff, pulled back the rope and yelled at us across the crowd demanding we come through right then. Then she muttered something about holding people back to give us more time to get settled, which she didn't really do. When we got to the plane, I had to lift the scooter to get onboard, kind of like jumping a curb. Then of course the first thing the flight attendant says to us was that my scooter wouldn't fit in the aisle. Having done this 3 times already in 2 days, we told her we could handle it and I rolled through, plopped in my bulkhead seat - 1B - and Shelley promptly took the scooter and gate-checked it. We had this down to a science.

An hour and a half later I'm thinking we made it through the whole trip pretty well, considering all my fears ahead of time. And then... we landed in Birmingham.

The landing plan was always this: I stayed in my seat while the rest of the passengers de-planed, then Shelley would go wait for the gate-checked scooter, bring it back, get me, and help me get my carry-on items. So I waited while everyone else passed by and walked off the plane. Then I realized something was different this time. I looked out the window. I gasped. I may have thrown up in my mouth a little bit. There was no jetway. There were only steps down to get off the plane. And then steps up to get into the airport terminal. One of my biggest fears was coming true, just minutes before Gary was to pick me up to head home.

I looked at the flight attendant then, who said, as if she'd never done this before, "We're still trying to figure out how to get you off of the plane." I think that's when Gilbert Grape's mom first popped into my head. And then when I saw the lift, her image burned into my brain. I felt like that poor woman, stuck in her house and stuck in her morbidly obese body. Remember how everyone made fun of her and stared at her and gawked at her, simply because she looked different and she needed people to help her??? They were going to have to use machinery - something like a cargo lift - to get me off that plane - and people were going to see them do it.

I wanted to just will myself to walk on my broken foot, on my $5270 bone stimulator, but I was too afraid I'd fall. I told the flight attendant I'd scoot down on my butt, like I do on the steps at home, but she wouldn't let me. And so Shelley, the flight attendant, two pilots, two luggage guys, one skycap and I all watched while another skycap drove that big cargo lift to the door of the plane. Then he wheeled out the skinniest wheelchair I've ever seen, over an even skinnier ramp. He backed it onto the aircraft, pulled it up next to my seat, and held my arm while I hopped onto it. Then he strapped me down, straight-jacket style. I was terrified that people were watching. I felt more and more like Gilbert Grape's mom with every pounding heartbeat. I peered past my hips that were spilling over the wheelchair's seat and looked straight down at the asphalt while the skycap rolled me over the teeny tiny ramp and onto the lift. In my mind he shouted "look out below!" when we started heading down, but he really didn't. In fact he tried to reassure me that I shouldn't be embarrassed, this is what he did all day every day at work. Even so, at that moment, I felt about 50% horrifying humiliation, and about 50% of me thought the whole thing would have been hilarious to watch - from afar.

Once on the ground, I got on my scooter and they led us through the bowels of BHM. We rode on the elevator with the skycap and the pilots and the flight attendant. Humiliated as I was, I thanked everyone for their help, and for sticking around late while I was hoisted off the plane. I half-joked that had this been at RDU, someone would have just said thank you for flying Delta and left me there to fend for myself. And if I wasn't already embarrassed enough, one of the pilots replied, "She's right. I was the one flying their flight from Raleigh." I thought about trying to get my foot out of my mouth, but instead decided to be grateful that someone else had noticed how insensitive that woman at the boarding gate had been hundreds of miles before.

Knowing I was being forced to face one of my fears head-on that night, I asked Shelley to take pictures, just in case I wanted them later - or wanted proof the whole nightmare actually happened. I still don't really find the whole thing very funny, but I'm getting there...
Enjoy the pics!



http://www.flickr.com/photos/46306625@N08/sets/72157623514939890/

"...and nobody likes a fat bitch."

Oy. Today's outlook is not so good as other recent days. The usual frustrations with dependence, lack of mobility, exhaustion are still bubbling right under the surface, but something new has reared its ugly head. Technically, maybe these aren't new issues, but all of a sudden I feel the crushing weight of my broken foot on my self-confidence.
Today I started looking on the interwebs for things to take on the (third attempt at a) honeymoon. It's been kind of a devastating shopping experience. We don't know yet if I'll be walking or not by the time we go. Aside from the obvious issues to consider - how to best get through the airport? do we rent a scooter in California? does that mean we'll also need a ramp? - there are the things that piss me off even more. After 8 months of this, even on our honeymoon I can't wear cute shoes. This may not sound serious to you - but imagine wearing the same 5 left-footed *flat* shoes for 7 MONTHS. On my honeymoon, I'd like to feel somewhat sexy. I highly doubt this is going to happen. And this is not just about the shoes. I don't feel pretty at all anymore. Sitting on your ass for 7 months can contribute to a bit of weight gain. I can't stand on a scale, but I'd guess I've easily gained 20 pounds. My skin is a mess. For the first time in my life, I'm even having problems with my scalp. Every muscle in my body is tense and hurts most of the time. It's so hard to take a shower that I never feel clean. And my broken foot - oh - I fear I will never, ever get the smell out. I have been wearing essentially the same sock 23 1/2 hours a day for months. I STINK! And in case it's not become clear yet, I'm also really, really grumpy. To quote one of my bff's from a very challenging time in her own life - "this has made me gain weight, and it's made me bitchy - and nobody likes a fat bitch."
So that's the body I'm living in. But wait, there's more.
I feel like a huge burden. To my husband, my friends, my neighbors, my co-workers... if you've come into contact with me at all over the last 6 or 7 months, chances are I've asked you to do something for me. I HATE that. A year ago I was so fiercely independent that if you had told me I would soon need help taking a shower, driving to work or painting my toenails, I would have needed sedatives.
Hmmm. Odd little side note. As soon as I said that, I reminded myself of this story the priest told last week at Mass that at the time I thought was really odd, but... he said if you throw a frog into boiling water he jumps right out. But if you put him in cool water and slowly turn up the heat, he'll die. No idea what that meant right now, but there it is.
Anyway... I am SO disorganized. Way, way, way worse than ever before. We were clutter-keepers before The Incident, but OMG, so much worse now. Part of the problem is that I can't carry anything, part of it is that I can't reach anything. So when something comes out of the closet, the pantry, the garage, it never goes back in. It has become such a problem that I almost panic when I think about it. I have no idea how to conquer this. I am afraid we will never be able to get back to any sense of normalcy - in our house or otherwise.
I have become a bad house manager, but I also feel like a bad wife. Gone are the days when Gary can come home and relax. Or, like the good old days, where he can come home and I've picked up the house and made dinner and martinis, and still had time to shower and find something, er, evening-appropriate to put on. Now I am lucky to let the dog out, feed him his dinner and get my ticker box and wires off my foot before Gary gets home. And then *he* has to get the mail, bring in any groceries, take the trash in or out, walk the dog again, do laundry and carry things upstairs before he even changes into not-work clothes and helps with dinner. All we do is ... do stuff. There never seems to be much time or energy left to spend with each other... just being together... with nothing else to worry about.
Which brings me full circle. This honeymoon has been on hold for so long - as has the "honeymoon" period of our marriage - that I really want this to be special. I really want to look and feel confident and cute and carefree. Instead, I'm shopping and I'm worried about what the velcro on my boot will ruin, what's going to accomodate those extra 20 pounds, what goes with flat boring shoes. And I'm worried because I don't want my husband to have to take care of me on our honeymoon. I want him to have fun, not worry. I don't want him to have to carry the scooter, all the luggage, and the weight of the world on his shoulders.
Dr. Positivity told us that I will be able to run again. What he didn't mention was that first we'd have to get through the longest, highly-emotional, most grueling endurance test of our lives.
And I am frightened to find out - when I finally get to the finish line - how much of the old me will be there waiting.

Because I couldn't have said it better myself...

Gary sent me the link to this article this afternoon. It's fabulous. I just HAD to share it. And really, I couldn't have said it better myself.

http://www.pavomag.com/story/lost-found

Third Time's A Charm?

Today I sent in the rental contract and the deposit for the honeymoon. The third scheduled honeymoon. Technically it might actually be the fourth, but we'll call it the third. The first plan was to go to St. Lucia. It was booked for about 7 months or so before we decided to scale back and go instead to Jamaica. We changed the resort reservations, changed flights, and started looking at what the Sandals in Ocho Rios had to offer for a couple of daredevil honeymooners like us. We were excited about the zipline tour through the rain forest. We bought aquasocks to climb the waterfalls. We got new golf balls and a travel bag for my clubs. And then ... The Incident happened.
At first, Dr. Positivity seemed to think we might be able to go on our honeymoon, just 5 weeks later. As the weeks progressed, it become more clear that the healing wasn't happening - and neither was the honeymoon.
My surgery was scheduled for October 5. I had a bone graft, a plate and 5 screws put in my foot. We talked to Dr. Positivity and agreed sometime around Thanksgiving might be more realistic to take the trip. Surely I would be walking by then. So we got back on the phone with Sandals and the airlines. I dreamed of cute flip flops and sand in my toes. And as the days got shorter and cooler, and suddenly the holidays were just ahead on the calendar, we admitted what we had been trying to avoid - there was no way we were taking this trip.
Rather than keep moving the dates, we killed the idea of the islands and Sandals altogether. Thankfully, one of us was smart enough to get travel insurance. We filed the claim and banked the settlement for the next attempt at a honeymoon... when I would actually - finally - be able to travel.
For a while we didn't even discuss it anymore, it was I guess just too disappointing. Once the conversation started again, nothing sounded right. I really, really want a honeymoon, not just another vacation. I wanted to do something we'd never, ever do any other time. Our getting married is extremely special - our honeymoon had to be, too.
So a couple of weeks ago Gary called me and asked me what I thought of something he came across. Had the cash been in my account at the time, I would have booked the trip before we even hung up. So after many phone calls and emails to make sure no matter what happens we can enjoy our once-in-a-lifetime trip whether I'm scooting or walking or rolling - our honeymoon is booked. Flights, rental house and tickets to the main event. And so - drumroll please - we are going to the 2010 Pebble Beach Food & Wine Festival! And for two people who love food and wine and like to pretend we're VIPs, this couldn't be any more perfect. 50 of the world's best chefs. 150 vintners. The culinary experience of a lifetime...
And the house? 100 yards from Lover's Point Beach in Pacific Grove. Entertainment system that goes throughout the whole house. Spa for 2 with chromotherapy. Heated floors. And most importantly - us. Together. Alone. And regardless of what happens with The Foot in the next 2 1/2 months, we can still go, and still enjoy the honeymoon we really, really need at this point - and completely, truly deserve.

It's Time Yet

Every day at our house - at around 5:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. - we play a game of "Is it time yet?!?" Bartlet starts whining for his 6:00 feeding - and I do mean WHINING - and Gary and I constantly, and partially unconsciously repeat, "It's not time yet!" But then, when that glorious moment comes 5:59:59, exasperated, one of us will say, "Hey Bartlet, it's time yet!"
The last 6 months - since The Incident that broke my foot and shattered my independence - we have adjusted everything in our regular routines to accomodate me and my foot. Before then, I had always been fiercely independent - almost to a fault. Just this morning I spent a lot of time in deep thought trying to figure out what has been worse, not being able to walk, or not being able to drive. I decided that it's not being able to drive. But then, as the day went on, I realized those weren't the only options.
For several weeks, if not more, I've had an incredible amount of anxiety. My lists of things to do - and I make several each day - are more than I can stand to look at. Many days I don't even take them out of my bag. Today, as the post-it notes and scribble-dy scratch stacked up on my desk I realized it has nothing to do with walking or driving, it's my general inability to get stuff done.
Those of you who know me well know this is nothing new. I go through stages where I'm productive and then entirely not productive. And what would make me more non-productive than not being able to walk or drive?!? For me, it's the perfect excuse to do nothing, and to complain about nothing getting done.
I realized today it's far worse for me to not go to the dentist/allergist/endocrinologist/Social Security Office/DMV than it is for me to ask for help. So I put my tail between my legs, made calls, and made appointments. More importantly, I stopped whining in my head, and I asked for help. Because - after 6 months - it's time yet.

Back Again

So here I am again.
I tried the blog thing last year while planning The Wedding, but it got away from me. Aside from the actual plans - the things some of you needed to know to get and/or stay here - I either couldn't find the time, or more likely, I couldn't put my thoughts into words I felt I could share with many people. Planning The Wedding was the third worst experience of my life (it's making it's way to 4th place right now, but that's another story...) I had so much anxiety and experienced so much heartbreak that it was simply just too hard to let my thoughts and feelings loose. Maybe I should have, maybe it would have helped me cope. But I didn't.
But now I will (try).
I have all these things I need to get out of my head - and I'm hoping this time around letting it out really will help me cope, calm down - chill, if you will. But right now I'm literally chilling - freezing cold - and need to go find a sock. Just one because I'm not going to the trouble of taking off my bone stimulator and boot just to put a sock on my right foot. So I'm off to search for one sock - while thinking about where to begin that part of the story...