Even though there are now officially only five days left till Christmas, I still have no idea what to get Mark for the holiday. My dad is easy. Every year, instead of buying each other a new present, we give each other the same same one. Socks and an obnoxious Christmas sweater for the following year, which can be hung up as a decoration then. The socks are worn because we take pleasure in being stereotypical, but in addition to that, they are amusing, and they frequently compliment the hideousness of the sweater. The practice of donning the sweater is nothing more than a lighthearted tradition. Because Maddy is now a part of the yearly custom, my dad and I are going shopping today to select a present for her to open on Christmas morning. When we get there, maybe I'll be able to figure out what to get Mark for a present and then get it to him before we go."Ready?" Immediately after I got into his car, my father questioned me about something."Sure." I say.I get a sight of him inspec
Do you feel that it is possible to meet someone and instantly fall in love with them? Her suggestion is that we maintain a comfortable distance from one another."Sure I do." When it came to Mark, I had exhausted all of my options. Although it took some time for it to register in my mind, I can say with certainty that it did take place."In my judgment, this is precisely what occurred with Kevin," She swallows and then sits up in a more upright position. She stated, "I never really went for the glasses type of nerdy looking guys, but when I saw Kevin and he got coupled up with me for a project, I knew I wanted him in my life." "When I saw Kevin and he got teamed up with me for a project, I knew I wanted him in my life." "I never really went for the type of nerdy looking people who wore glasses," she said. She says smiling. "Are you kidding me?" She inquires as she turns her head to look at me in the face."No, that's what we refer to as love," she said. I say this while firmly grippin
Mark and I have traveled to my father's place to spend the day before Christmas Eve with him. We stayed overnight until the day after Christmas.The movie we were watching, "Home Alone," was cut short by a knock on the door. "I'll fetch it." I say going up.I enter the door and I'm welcomed with 'carolers.! "We want to use this opportunity to extend our warmest holiday greetings and best wishes for a prosperous new year to you and your loved ones." My family from New York sings with their matching caps on as though they rehearsed."What's up, guys?" I would recommend grinning at them and giving each of them a hug."You were on our minds." Hannah says, embracing my waist. Is she now taller? "Did you grow Han?" I voice my question."Yep! A whole three inches in length." She proclaims with pride.I give Will and my mother a kind grin and then move on. "You look so good honey." She leans forward and gives me a bear hug. "How are you doing right now?" She then places her hand on my forehe
On Christmas morning, I get out of bed at four in the afternoon. Mark is currently sound asleep, but I have a terrible want to shake him awake. I have a soft spot in my heart for the holiday of Christmas. I just adore getting up early, going on a walk in the dark while the tree is lighted up, and taking in everything that comes with the experience. I can't even begin to express how much I adore Christmas."Mark." I drag out. He appears to be awake. "The Christmas holiday has here." I respond by saying that I am getting ready to shove him off the bed once more. "Have yourself a merry little Christmas!" I say to him while I'm helping him get off the bed."Why did you do that?" Mark asks, groaning and rising up. The Christmas pajamas he was wearing had finally been shown to me. I burst out laughing until I am crying with laughter. "What?" Mark asks snappy."Your PJs." I will say when I am not under the influence of alcohol or drugs. He casts his gaze downward and lets out a muffled chuck
"Has anyone ever told you that you're crazy?" or "Have you ever heard that?" This is a question posed by my mother as we organize the presents."Yes, many, many times over," was the response. As I hand Hannah her final present, I make this statement. "Who gets the nod to go first?" On the love seat that we had brought down from the living room upstairs, Mark and I found a spot next to each other.Which comes first, the youngest or the oldest?" Will decides to share his thoughts."Alright. You get the honor of going first, Hannah." I make a gesture toward her, and she selects one of the options."It's a pillow in the shape of a unicorn!" She is heard yelling. "You're very welcome, Sophie!" After sitting for a while, she stands up and gives her sister a hug. After that, she opened one of the presents that she had received. "I'll give you the floor.""A t-shirt depicting a happy face and the word "awesome" since the year 2005. Thanks Alyanna." Indeed, you are correct in saying that. That
When I walk about, I introduce myself to both familiar and unfamiliar faces, and I make sure to provide a warm greeting to everyone. While everybody else is settling down and getting quiet, my father walks up to the front of the room."I am aware that some of you might not be familiar with my name, but my name is Christopher Romero. Because my amazing daughter Alyanna Hernandez never finished it, this pool house was never completed. When she was ten years old, she tried to prevent me from completing it on the grounds that she thought it was a waste of money. If they were ten years old, the vast majority of children would probably want the pool house, but no. Because of her intervention, I was able to multiply the amount of money I had already invested in this endeavor by three and give it to three other charitable organizations.One was for providing clean water to underdeveloped nations, another was for constructing homes in underdeveloped nations, and the third was for the fight aga
"There's no need to be concerned about arriving late to the party." Maya hears this from me while I'm still in the cozy confines of my bed.It's past my bedtime, so I should probably be sleeping. Mark told me that if I'm going to stay up until midnight tonight, I need to make sure that I get as much rest as I possibly can throughout the day. It would be more accurate to say that I slept for the majority of the day.The day has finally come for me to check myself into the hospital where I'll be staying for the next two weeks. There is a possibility that I will not reappear. Every day I'll receive intensive chemotherapy, and the following Tuesday will be the day that I undergo the bone marrow transplant. It's been a week since then, and I'm crossing my fingers that everything will still be fine when I get home."I am aware of this, but I would very much like to be present nonetheless. It's your final day at home before you have to check yourself into the hospital." I readjust my positio
"Considering that we are going to be there for two or three weeks, and that you are going to be bedridden for the entirety of that time, I believe that we will be able to see more than six movies." He makes this statement while bringing up an important topic.I cast a glance to the side and engage in some internal deliberation for a moment. I console myself by saying, "Well, at least we have somewhere to begin.""True." A grin appears on his face. "Want to dance?" He asks."I'd be happy." I smile.After dancing to a few songs, we decide to go have some food and then converse with my dad and Maddy before continuing our dancing. We continue to dance for a while, and then we fetch a bottle of water for the pair of us. Before we realize it, it's five minutes before midnight. I'm starting to become nervous. What exactly is he going to say? What kind of response does he have planned for this? What kind of response can we anticipate from him, positive or negative? While we are making our sel
"Mommy!" I hear yelling as well as loud running footsteps. Kara, Kyle and Willow come running into the kitchen. "Can you finish the story?""Not yet, we gotta wait for daddy and Milly." I dry my hands and lean down to pick up Willow. "Where's Landon?" I ask to go into the living room. I sigh when I see him sitting in front of the TV playing video games. Just like he's been doing with every minute of free time he gets."Come on, go outside and run around, get dirty." I put Willow down next to Landon."But this level is really hard and I can't-" I cut him off by turning off the TV and giving him a no arguing look. "Fine, I'll go outside.""Be a good brother and take your sister to the swing set." I say handing him Willow."Really? It's bad enough I can't finish my game." I put my hands on my hips. "You know what? I have a sudden urge to push my little sister on the swing." He says picking up Willow and walking to the front door."Smart." I call out with a chuckle.Kyle and Kara follow t
"At this same time in 2018, on July 18th, we exchanged our vows and became husband and wife." I'm saying that while Mark is cooking, I should be strolling around the island in our brand-new kitchen and bugging him."I am familiar with the functioning of the calendar." Mark is using his smart mouth in an attempt to convince me to take a seat."Yeah, but today marks our anniversary of being together for a year." I would recommend coming to a complete halt right next to him and displaying him some images from the wedding.I want to reiterate that I am familiar with the operation of the calendar. This time, however, he lets out a chuckle. "OK, go ahead and have a seat. After supper, I'd want to take you somewhere special." Mark tells me that he is putting a plate in the seat next to mine.I get up and make my way over there before sitting down. "Oh, I'm so excited to find out where you've planned our anniversary celebration!" I smirk."This comes as a complete shock to me." He appears to
My birthday is on the first of June, which means that it is only a day away at this point. My hair has now grown out to be almost one inch long. Although there isn't enough to show just yet, it's still there. Mark and I have become even more close recently, and in light of this, we have increased the number of dates we go on that take place outside of the venues we previously attended.We packed a lunch and had a picnic at the highest point of our hike. We went to a community pool with Abby and Charlie, where they gave Lexi her first swim lesson when she was six months old. It was adorable to see how she reacted when she got into the water. We've had a lot of quality time together, both with just the two of us and with our respective friends and families.I've already told Mark that I don't want a party, so instead we're just going to go on a short bike ride around the area and eat lunch somewhere along the way. I instructed him not to get me anything, but he insisted on getting me at
"Ooh look a fortune teller." I can't help but crack a grin as I take a seat with the stuffed elephant I'm holding in my arms.It is not necessary for us to get our horoscopes read at this time. While he is saying this to me and attempting to drag me away from him, he grabs my hand."Yeah, we are now seated." I issue this command. He acquiesces with a rolled eye expression and does what he is told."Get your fortune told for just five dollars," the ad read. The fortune teller cracks a wry smile as she circles her hands around the crystal ball in her possession. Mark removes a five dollar bill from his pocket and places it in the container that she is using. "Each." The female contributor continues. Mark makes an expression of rolling his eyes before adding another five. "Well, right...," the speaker said."There's a chance that we shouldn't even go in there." Turning around is something that Mark objects to."Nope! We didn't drive all the way here simply to turn around and head back ho
"I've made up my mind about what course of action I want to take." When it's time to clean up after supper, Sophie is the one who makes the announcement.The question then was, "And what is that?" I put the plate I'm washing down and turn my attention to her, asking her to pay attention to me instead."I am aware that winter is in full swing, but despite this, I have the urge to participate in some sort of carnival." She withdraws her presence gradually. "I am aware that it is somewhat childish, but I would really like to do it before I become a teenager.""It does not have an infantile quality. I have a feeling that we are going to have a lot of laughs." I'm heading towards the desk where my computer is located right now. I'll investigate whether there are any indoor carnivals in our area. This is what I am saying while I type."Really?" She asks with a grin as she makes her way over to me to keep an eye on what I'm looking for."Absolutely, we're looking forward to the fun. We are a
"Mark?" I stammer out while turning my head to look at him."Alyanna, you have to make sure that you get enough rest. It is currently two o'clock in the morning." Mark utters these words while setting his book down to the side."I just can't shut my brain off. It is imperative that I convey the following information to you." I say blinking slowly.The question is, "What is it?" He requests that you move in a little bit closer."I had a dream about Maya being in this place," the narrator said. When I make an effort to swallow, however, it causes more discomfort than it solves. It had been ten years since I had from high school, and my wife and I were taking our four children with us to attend the reunion. I smile."Really? Were Milly and Landon two of the names that you were considering?" He inquires while straining his eyes slightly to the sides."Yeah, and the other two were a set of twins by the names of Kara and Kyle," she replied. I pause for a moment before asking, "Are you fond
I am roused from my sleep by the soundtrack of a motion picture. I've only made it through one round, but I'm already so exhausted that I can hardly move. Mark has started playing Sweet Home Alabama, and I believe it is approximately halfway through at this point. I turn my head to look at the man I love, who is hiding his identity behind a mask so that he can be here with me.Because he turns to face me and smiles when he sees me looking at him, I believe that he is aware that I am staring at him. At the very least, I believe he's putting on a happy face. "Hi love." While he is doing so, he says while leaning closer to me.I smile. When you speak in that manner, you have a decidedly British accent. I stutter out the phrase.I can make out in the corner of his eye a slight crinkle, which is a clear indication that he's smiling. "Do you like it?" He questions it while cocking his head to the side. I nod. "Then I'll keep doing it love," she replied. He appears to be smiling once more fr
"Explain it to me in detail," I requested. I think to myself as I roll over onto my stomach and hold myself up on my elbows."It had been six or seven years since Thanksgiving when it finally arrived..." It all begins with him."It all makes perfect sense that your car accident had place the day before Thanksgiving." I said nodding along."Anyways. As soon as I went in the door, you walked over to me and introduced yourself. Your hair was about shoulder length. After some time had passed, Charlie and his two young companions entered the room. One was given the name Alexis, and the other was given the name Milly." When her name was mentioned, a big smile spread across my face. She was my grandmother. How does this real-life situation relate to this dream?"Was it the reason you mentioned that you loved the names Milly and Landon?" I inquire while drawing in a bit closer to him in order to get a better look at the emotion that is currently on his face.A very small nod is all that is gi
Sleeping is the last thing I want to be doing right now, but I just can't muster the energy to do anything else because I was up all night last night. We were forced to delay our arrival at the hospital, but this is not a significant issue because nothing will take place until the afternoon of tomorrow. We ended up staying longer.After we got back to the house, we changed into our pajamas and went to bed immediately. Well, I did, and then Mark put on a movie and lied down on his back while I lied on his chest while he watched it. I haven't been able to get around to doing that just yet. I think that a regular drum beat or even the sound of a heartbeat can be soothing when one is trying to fall or stay asleep. I am all for it. When he turns off the light and the television, that's when I open my eyes. Also, when he turns off the TV, I open my eyes. I inquire as to whether or not he requires my presence to be elsewhere. According to everything I've read and seen on the subject, your ar