Memorial Day Weekend 2008 - The Bar-B-Q!

Memorial Day Weekend 2008 - The Housewarming!

Memorial Day Weekend 2008 - The Birds!

Family Campout 2008

Laundry Day

I was just putting the laundry away (including the laundry I washed last week and didn't bother to remove from the basket at the foot of my bed) and found these in my dresser drawers:

Yes, they are a couple of love notes from D! And they read:

" I love you! I enjoyed the time we spent together and I look foward to seeing you in a few weeks. Love always, Darryl."

"Don't forget, that booty is mine! Your man, Mr. Broussard"

I so love him! Only he could make laundry day romantic a week later from a 1000 miles away :-) !

Funny Farm

I saw some very strange looking farm equipment on the road this evening. I guess it's just that time of year...

D & Shorty Playing Football At Weed Park

Ahhh, family time!

Black People? No, Black Squirrels

There may not be many black people in IA, but strangely enough there are plenty of black squirrels!

Popsicle Tongue

I don't know how many I ate (ok, more than 15, but less than 24), but it was a lot!

The Doors of Muscatine

When I took Shorty to Chicago for the Cubs game as an early birthday present on April 5, D inadvertently started my most recent torture session. When I asked him about his day during the drive back he let it slip to me, "Baby, the lady called today to say that I got it! It's in!"

"What's in?" I asked with a confused tone.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I can't tell you," he replied.

"That's not fair!" I whined. "You can do that to me! You can't start to tell me something and then try to drop it! What is it!" I pleaded.

"Well, I can't tell you what it is, but it's something I got for you that I'll give you during our next visit," he replied while holding back his excitement.

"Well, can you at least give me a hint?" I begged.

"No. All I can tell you is it's something you've wanted for a long time and I think it will help as we get closer to our Boo-versary," he said. Parenthetically, Boo-versary is the nickname our mutual friend gave to our upcoming 1 year anniversary of dating since D calls me his "Boo".

After we got off the phone I had plenty of time during the drive through Illinois back to Iowa to think about what it was he might have bought for me.

"Is it an engagement ring?" I thought to myself. "Maybe it's some other jewelry," I pondered. "It could be an airline ticket for a surprise visit," I mused. Then it hit me and I called him back.

"Did you get me the 'Doors of Muscatine'?" I proded.

The "Doors of Muscatine" is a limited edition print of doors to buildings here in Muscatine done by a group of local Catholic school students back in 1989. A copy of it hangs in my building at work and ever since I interned here in '97 I've wanted one of my own. When I moved back here in 2006, I decided I couldn't leave until I had one. Since then, I've searched high and low for a copy. Unfortunately it's no longer being printed and I thought I'd have to spend every Saturday going to garage sales and many hours on eBay searching for one. Alas, D found it and bought it for me!

He called all over town looking for one and finally got in touch with a woman who told him one was up for auction to raise money for the local Catholic school. He put in a bid (long distance, I might add) and managed to win the print. When he came up last week, he picked it up and hung it in my living room. I had no idea!

After work on Friday he picked me up and we went downtown so I could show him the flooded Mississippi which had overflown its banks into town last week. As we walked around, we passed the gallery I'd gone to just a week before in my continual search for the print. He actually let me take him there and show him the other prints (the "Windows of Muscatine" & the "Barns of Iowa") I'd been considering since I hadn't been able to find the "Doors of Muscatine".

"Maybe we'll have to go to garage sales every time I come up to search for the 'Doors of Muscatine'," he casually said.

"Yeah, maybe," I said with more than a hint of disappointment in my voice. After dinner we came home and there it was, hanging in my living room! D went through a lot of trouble to get me this print! There's no question in my mind that he loves me and is the man with which I was created by God to spend the rest of my life!

Ever since I first saw it I was in love with this print, much like the man with which I'm now prepared to share my life. It's so symbolic in that so many doors have opened up for me by moving here and closing the doors on my past in Louisiana. It really does exemplify for me the old saying, "God never closes a door without opening another one."