|
|
|
june
2005-06-02, 3:40 p.m.
can't believe it's already June.
JUNE!
Where has the time gone!
*****
Planning our religious ceremony in Greece for next year.
I will surely have to get a tutor. I have made very little progress since September. I blame this on myself. I never study. Attending classes every Wednesday seems like such a waste of time and money when I'm not even doing my homework during the week. I should be ashamed of myself. What's wrong with me?
And yet adonis and his friends continue to be supportive of my attempts. I do try to speak and learn as much as I can from them and with them. But it just isn't enough.
Next year I'm going to Greece and will meet his family for the first time. Can you imagine me in a greek village with goats and sheep, and hills and valleys, and cafes that do not allow the women to sit with their husbands, and his family ONLY speaks GREEK.
I'm terrified. And I told Adonis, "I'm sorry but I'm not sitting at home with your family while you go out for coffee. I grew up in America where the women are free to do what they want to."
Adonis just forces a smile and looks at me with terrified eyes then tries to explain that it's just not something the women do ro want to do in the villages. That people would gossip about me. That the cafes are now what they are here. And "You have to understand."
But I don't. I don't understand. And I will not be left alone with his Greek speaking family not even for a second.
Of course, you never know, that's still a year away, and his mother and I may just hit it off spendidly, in which case I won't mind at all.
******
The apartment feels like a home now. We arranged the large studio into two rooms. A love seat and folding screen, along with a huge plant serve as dividers between the bedroom area and the living room now. It is VERY cozy.
We have two beta fish, "Rose" and "Adonis". Rose is red and Adonis is blue. They are gorgeous. Adonis is always asking me "Did you feed them?" We love to just sit and watch them.
I worry that they will die. I've gone online many times to access information - the best ways to care for beta fish, etc.
They are like our children.
You would be amazed by what a difference the presence of plants and fish will make in an apartment.
His friends come over a lot now. They told me I have great taste in furniture and they can't believe the transformation the apartment has taken since I moved in with Adonis.
I have grown very close to his friends, and their girlfriends, particularly Herula (who lives with her two daughters and is dating Nikos) and Helen (who lives upstairs). Both are so beautiful in different ways.
Herula is always telling me how much all the guys and their families, and "Everybody....they just love you."
I just smile. I feel like I'm part of a family again and I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. I've been on my own for years. I'd forgotten what it feels like.
Again and again his friends tell Adonis how "Lucky" he is, and what a "good girl" i am. And he just smiles and says, "I know, I KNOW."
******
We bought his wedding band on Friday night. Ventured into Manhattan to visit my friend Martin at his restaurant, and stopped at a jewelry store on the way. While there Adonis asked me which ring I liked best.
"But I already have my ring", i told him. The ring is a very simple, white gold wedding band with three diamonds. Wanting to be frugal I purchased it off of ebay. He gave me the money for it.
I never expected an engagement ring. Adonis doesn't have that kind of money.
But here he was asking me which ring I liked, and when I pointed to a very simple diamond ring he told me he would like to come back and get it for me. That he felt bad that he had not gotten me an engagement ring.
I told him to wait. Sherry's roomate's aunt works in the diamond district and we can go to her shop and find something just as beautiful and get it wholesale.
************
I can see him grow increasingly excited by the prospect of being married and having a family. He is already referring to me as his wife and told his friends he can't wait to give me a baby.
Also as our civil wedding date fast approaches he has started to ask me what we will need as far as food and drinks for my friends and family.
The ceremony will be over in five minutes flat. Nothing romantic or special about a City Hall wedding. But having our friends and family there to share in the celebration of our union, after the ceremony, will be special.
My birthmother is so happy for me. She told me on the phone over the weekend that she plans to give me a strand of pearls that belonged to her grandmother to use as something "old" for the occasion. My nephew and her boyfriend are making the trip with her and will be in attendance, as well as my three closest friends, Denny, Sherry and Martin.
As for the religious ceremony in Greece, I'd like to have it in May of next year but all of this is only possible if the INS grants adonis his visa BEFORE April. So much paperwork and red tape involved in this process. I begun the long process of downloading the necessary forms. I'd like to have everything ready to go by the time we are married so we can get the ball rolling quickly!
Would like to have our honeymoon in Crete. Crete is the largest island in Greece, so much history there.
TWo weeks in his village with his family, before the wedding. One week on our honeymoon.
I have to contact my father about getting a copy of my birth certificate.
I need it in order to convert to Greek Orthodox. A chrismation cannot be performed in the Greek church without this. What will I do if my father doesn't come through for me? What if he no longer has a copy of it?
I don't know the name of the church where I was baptized.
Why does it all have to be so complicated?
YESTERDAY - TODAY - TOMORROW 
LEAVE A COMMENT
|
|
|
