The best Valentine's I ever had...

I am a firm believer that marriage gets better and better over time.  You get to know your partner better, you grow and learn from shared experiences, and you continue to “leave and cleave” and become your own family.  Today I was reminded once again how much I love my husband, how caring he is, and how thankful I am to have him in my life.

We’ve never been a couple that does a lot for Valentine’s Day.  Sometimes we’ll go to McDonald’s and get an ice cream cone or something and we usually get cards, but nothing too fancy.  Even so, I was a little sad that we’d be spending it apart this year, since I am in India.  I had a big meeting and presentation downstairs at my hotel today, so I went down around noon to prepare.  The presentation was over by 3pm, and I headed back upstairs to my room to work a little longer.  As soon as I walked in, my jaw dropped to the floor.

I had two dozen red roses waiting for me in the room.  My very first thought was that I wished they were from Brent, but I didn’t know how in the world that would have been possible.  So I assumed they were from the hotel.  It’s a pretty nice place, and this wouldn’t have been out of the question.  In fact, I actually did find a rose and handwritten note from them on my bed a little later.  But anyway, as I looked closer at the flowers, I noticed a card with my name on it, and it was in Brent’s handwriting.  I began to get more excited.  When I opened the card, it was all over.  I was immediately in tears.  He’d written me a precious note on a card that we’d bought together while we were here (it was a set that we bought to give out to our friends as thank you notes, and he must have saved one for me).  Then I noticed the vase that the flowers were in.  When I first moved to India last September, Brent bought me a vase and some flowers to welcome me to our apartment.  My Valentine’s roses were in that very vase.  I was speechless and just couldn’t fathom how he’d pulled this off.

I finally got to talk to him a few hours later (this time zone thing is driving me crazy!) and found out that he’d planned the whole thing before he ever left India!  Before he left, we found out that I’d have to come back and would be here for Valentine’s Day.  So he’d  given the vase and card to our friend, Taha, and asked him to give it to the hotel today.  Taha was in my meeting and came a little early to drop off the flowers and have them delivered to my room while I was downstairs.  This was a surprise that was weeks in the making, and the execution was flawless!

I am still overwhelmed.  I think this is the best surprise I’ve ever gotten.  I told Brent that it might even be better than when he proposed, because I truly wasn’t expecting this one, and it showed me once again how much he loves me.  God calls husbands to love their wives, and Brent does that so well.  He’s truly a caring and gently spirit, and I couldn’t imagine my life without him. 

I’ll cherish this Valentine’s Day forever, and that vase is definitely coming home with me.  It’ll be in our home for a long time to come!

My beautiful roses

 The card

(And the single rose left by the hotel)

Take two...

Well I didn’t expect to return to India quite this soon, but here I am, almost 4 weeks to the day from when I left Bangalore, sitting right smack in the middle of the city again!  I’m working on an acquisition integration project at work, and I’m responsible for readiness at our Bangalore site.  It’s a really fun (and BUSY) project, and I love that it’s kept me in touch with India. 

Brent returned home about two weeks ago, and it was so good to see him.  We were back to being a full family (not living on different continents), we had our little kitty back with us, and it felt so wonderful to be in our home together.  And then I found out that I needed to make a return trip.  Ha!  So after only 11 days of being back together, I headed back to the airport to make the 30 hour trip across the ocean.  I was definitely sad to be leaving Brent again so soon, but this trip is only for 10 days and I’m thrilled to get to come back.  He encouraged me to take the opportunity since we probably won’t get to come back on our own.  I will get to make at least one more trip in April, and then who knows after that.  So I’m thankful for this opportunity. 

It was amazing how much it felt like home when I stepped off the plane in Bangalore.  And once again, the very first thing that caught my attention were the kind, brown eyes of the Indian people.  I don’t know what it is, but they just have the sweetest faces and are so eager to help in any way that they can.  I just love that.  I love that I really know this place, that I know the customs, that I like the food, that I understand the quirky little things that are so foreign to others the first time they visit.  I feel like I belong here, and that makes me happy.

In addition to being a lot shorter than my first trip, this experience is also a little different, because I’m getting to stay in a super fancy hotel instead of our cozy (read: slightly run down but very endearing) little apartment.  As much as I’m LOVING the upgrade, I do miss our little place.  Brent and I really made that apartment our home, and I’m so glad we got to experience that together.  One of the things I really loved about our first trip is that we lived like so many of our Indian friends.  It wasn’t a luxurious living arrangement, and we were really able to relate to them a lot better as a result.  So again, I’m enjoying the heck out of this hotel, but it definitely makes for a different perspective.    

My trip agenda is packed with work events (I’m working both Saturday and Sunday – blah!), but I’m hoping to be able to catch up with some friends while I’m here.  It’s so fun to see everyone at the office again.  It really has been like a homecoming. 

I love this country, and I’m happy to be here and to be able to stay connected with it from my project at work.  What a blessing!