I was all set to write about the resolution of the aforementioned family drama, but that can take a back seat because I never wrote about our trip to NYC a week ago.
So, before we even left town, it was CRAZY! First of all, I had signed up to work extra hours on the day I was scheduled to leave. I signed up to work 1:30-6:30, oh and I had a doctors appointment at 11, and then I had bloodwork done that morning as well. *sigh*. Oh and let's not mention the fact that I had yet to pack for our departure later that night.
Yeah...that was a crazy busy day. We left the apartment around 1:30am that night or so, to get a card for his cousin's wedding. Went to our local CVS, Keith went to look for the 5 hour energy drink he always gets, while I went to pick out a card. He thinks he's left his iPod at the apartment, so he goes out to the car and decides to go back, but before doing that, he handed the 5 hour energy drink to me to pay for it, and walked out the store. Well, apparently a store clerk/manager/whatever the heck this woman was (oh and she was white, that part is relevant to the story), follows him outside and says 'Seriously?'.
Keith is confused and says 'seriously what?' She says it again, and then walks back in the store. Me and Keith knew she thought that he stole it.
Well, he walks back in the store, quite upset about it...goes to find the lady and asks what she meant by it. She tried to brush it off, like it meant nothing, but well, Keith has dealt with that situation enough to know. I was in line to pay for the card and 5 hour energy drink, and Keith tells me to put both back, we're leaving and going to the store down the street. Once he told me what was happening, I wasn't too pleased. We haven't been back to the store since, and I'm in the midst of writing a letter to CVS' corporate headquarters. Mind you, this was a CVS we patronized & spent money in regularly. They should know us by face AND name, also it's used as my primary pharmacy. Well not anymore. No more CVS by our house anymore. We go to Walgreens, or any other store by our house, except CVS.
So anyways, we got on the road and headed towards NYC.
We had a ball in NYC with family. We stayed in Harlem with my in laws, in Keith's aunt and uncle's GORGEOUS Brownstone. I had no idea how big brownstones were, and I fell in love with them even more. Friday, we ran some errands with my other mother (mother in law, thats what I call her!), spent some quality time with her, then headed up to Yonkers to spend some time with my other father (father in law), then came back to Harlem. The wedding was saturday, it was absolutely BEAUTIFUL. I got to meet more new family (in laws), and we thoroughly enjoyed time spent with all of them. Saturday night after the wedding, Keith & I hung out in midtown, just hangin out, then Sunday we just spent more time with his mother before we headed back to Cleveland.
Can I mention how much I LOVE my in laws? I fall in love with them more and more each time I'm there, I always enjoy time spent with them.
Keith's uncle is the pastor of a church on the Upper Westside of Manhattan, I'm convinced I've never met someone who loves pastoring more than he does. He does it with such JOY, loves God, loves people. Really, Keith's whole family is like that, they're very close knit, which is something I didn't have growing up.
Yeah I grew up with my parents, sisters, grandmother, nephews, but the rest of my family is scattered all over the place, and well, we grew up rather isolated in Cleveland. We saw the rest of the family once a year, and I always wished we were closer. We love each other, I never hold anything against them, just wish we were all closer. It's definitely a lot bigger than Keith's family, and we're scattered, but we all love each other, even if we don't get to tell each other often.
Keith's family is all concentrated in the NYC metro area or in the vicinity, so they're pretty close knit. I love that I get to call them family now, they're great. They have their issues like everybody else, but they love each other like crazy...you can feel that just being around them. I will say, I've also learned to appreciate my family even more, even though at times, I still feel like an outsider...but as I'm around them more, I'm starting to open up to them. I'm pretty different from my family, my sisters are as well, but I love them all the same!
Oh and just one more thing...I realized that the magic that occurs between me and my husband in NYC (and not anywhere else, not even Cleveland or Chicago etc) is because NYC is his element, and mine too. I fell in love with him because he was so different from people here in Cleveland, he doesn't think or carry himself like Cleveland natives. His ambition/drive? Not matched by many Cleveland men...and those guys who do have that drive? They leave town lol. But seriously, I see a different side of him that is so dang on SEXY when we're in NYC, it's like a switch is turned on in him. I LOVE IT. You ever been in a place that makes you come ALIVE, like something inside of you just blossoms when you're there, like it's electric, it's amazing, it's beautiful? NYC is that place for us. It's unmatched, I can't see us anywhere else. It provides a spark to us, as a couple, as individuals, like nothing else can. I'm leaving it all in God's hands though...of course I really wanna live there, lay down roots there possibly, and start the rest of our lives there, but we'll see what God says about it.
Anywho that was my trip to NYC! Of course I didn't wanna leave, that goes without saying, but hopefully we'll make it back before the end of the year!
And as far as the aforementioned family drama (see last post)...I've decided to live and let live and let GO. It's been brought to my attention that people make time for things they want to make time for, but only want to blame and point out what others aren't doing. There's still a bit of an adjustment going on-people have to get used to the fact that my marriage is my top priority, that my husband is now my immediate family, not them...I will not continue to extend my hand only to get it slapped away...nope. The phone works both ways, so...that's that. Still love my sisters, that doesn't change. I just will not be manipulated/guilt tripped for being committed to my marriage, my own well being...if I'm not, who else will be, outside of my husband? Nobody. Exactly.
Life is beautiful, it's amazing, even in tough moments, difficult lessons of pain...there's beauty in pain and I'm starting to appreciate that. You must experience pain to grow. It's inevitable. So I'm thankful for the pain and the growth that follows.
True
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