Sandralee's Adventures in San Antonio, Day ONE!

The day after Tax Season ended with H&R Block, I boarded the bus from the Rio Grande Valley to San Antonio. I wanted to go visit all of my friends, most of whom I consider family. I decided to stay for two weeks and then come back renewed, refreshed and refocused. Right after I lost my son, Josiah in July I started taking a tax preparation course to keep me occupied. Now that tax season is over, it is time to face reality again and see where my life is going to lead me. I have many goals, dreams and aspirations. Many things weigh on my mind. Should I move to San Antonio or do I stay in the Rio Grande Valley? Ever since I was a little girl, I have always wanted to be a teacher. I remember that my neighbor Mary Lou Mendez and I would fight about who was going to be the teacher and who was going to be the student. Mary Lou fulfilled her dream in becoming a teacher while the road of life lead me to a marriage full of domestic violence. I traveled a road of destruction for many years, full of self-hatred and guilt. I am not going to dwell on that, but wanted to explain why I am here standing on the precipice of a life changing decision. Hence the trip to San Antonio, where I am going to relax, rest, visit great family/friends and try to meet up with some very inspirational people. I decided to take the bus to San Antonio so that I could write about my adventures, meeting different people and not having to drive. I also needed the valve cover gaskets changed on my baby, Star Jade. Left my SUV (along with the new parts)at my parents house in hopes that my dad has time to fix it! ;) At 12:15 pm I boarded the bus and two hours later we were just hitting McAllen! I had traveled by bus YEARS ago and I had forgotten how bumpy, jerky and how many FREQUENT stops the VTC bus made. I quickly got motion sickness and almost asked the bus driver to STOP and let me off. Like a valiant trooper, I closed my eyes for a little bit and was rudely woken up by someone snoring close by! How dare they! I surreptiously looked around to find everyone awake and realized the quiet LADY-LIKE snores were mine! ;) On we traveled down life's highway heading to San Antonio. The heavy rain made me a little uneasy, but I quietly prayed for God's protection as I studied how many escape routes the bus had. Not that MY God could not protect me, but accidents can and do happen. I giggled to myself when I saw the escape hatch on the roof of the bus. Would my big body and booty be able to ESCAPE thru that? I cleverly devised different methods of SQUEEZING all of me thru the escape route, just in case. If I had to hold my breath and wiggle my big booty thru, a few HUGE bruises would be worth it to get out and be safe! I imagined myself raising my arms and DIVING thru the hatch like a swimmer and then laughed when I imagined getting stuck. A bus accident is NOT a laughing matter, but those who have seen me in person, know I am a BIG beautiful woman and that kept me entertained for a few minutes. Satisfied that I knew where ALL of the escape routes were and what lever to push to get them open, I read for a little while. The book by J. Lindsay was about three women who had gone thru traumatic events and were sent to a home in hopes of helping each other. One woman's INTENSE grief was due to a miscarriage. Not wanting to dwell on my FIVE losses, I only read for a little bit. Since the beginning of the trip, there was one little Mexican boy about 5 or 6 years old that was chatting incessantly. I tried playing the older mean lady by glaring at him and putting my finger to my lip with a loud SHHHHHHH! Josue just started laughing at me. I noticed he had a book on Super Heroes and he had his super hero garb on. I made the hand gesture like Spiderman does when he weaves a spider web and Josue started giggling. Advising him my Princess Girl Powers were stronger than his Boy Powers, we engaged in a BOY VS OLD LADY ACTING LIKE A KID Super Hero Power Struggle! He kept blocking my shots with his Power Shield x 100. I told him this is a Sleep Hold x 1000. The Sleep hold x Infinity didn't work since he continued laughing, talking and being silly. I serenely and regally bowed in surrender as Princesses do when they know they are beat and told him good night! He told me good night, turned around and sat down.... STILL talking! SHEESHKABOB! ;) I slept for a little bit and then woke up when the rain stopped enjoying the fields filled with beautiful wild flowers of blue, yellow, red and purple! How majestic is Texas during the Spring! Meanwhile, we were stopping at various places embarking and disembarking passengers. One young couple was taking a short trip and the woman was 6 months pregnant. It was her first child and it was going to be a boy. I didn't regale them with stories of my losses. There is a time and place for everything. The purpose for sharing Josiah's Love is to help others who have lost a baby thru miscarriage or stillbirth. Sharing my son's story is to help others cope with grief and let them know others have gone thru such tragedy too. As the couple disembarked, the young woman looked back and wished me a good day with a huge smile on her glowing face. My stomach didn't clench in anger, grief, envy or hatred. The smile I returned was genuine and fulfilled with the knowledge that God has MY life in his Hands. If I am ever to be a mother in this life, God will open the door. I was genuinely happy for them and even gave them a little free tax advise! They will be enjoying that 'little tax deduction' next year! ;) About thirty minutes outside of San Antonio, we came upon some very HEAVY traffic. We literally CRAWLED thru traffic for about an hour and then had to take a detour. While everyone else turned left to get back on the right road, the bus driver went straight. At that EXACT moment, I knew we were in trouble! We traveled thru long winding farm roads and got lost for about two hours. The passengers were telling the bus driver where to go. I felt my motion sickness coming back full force and I wanted to SCREAM!!!! I was being picked up by one of my best friends, Jen and her family and the kids were hungry! I called her and told her we were in Timbukto. She suggested the bus driver drop me off by the side of the road so they could pick me up and we would go back and get my suitcase full of CHONES (undies) at the station later! We had planned to go to Chacho's with Mari's family and my best male friend Daryl. Thanks to the bus driver, we had to cancel those plans. :( We FINALLY made it to the bus station down town, TWO hours after our scheduled time and Jen's hubby helped me with my luggage. I said goodbye to Josue and I patted him on the head since I didn't dare hug him in case his mom wasn't comfortable with that! He was such a pleasure to duel with! I got into the SUV and saw the handsomest little boys in the world.. that is besides my nephews Jon, Josh & Brandon!! Don't want my other boys to feel left out! ;) Espen & Ethan were so big and my heart filled with joy upon seeing them! Ethan pretended to ignore me until I tickled him and he laughed and held my hand the whole way to the restaurant. We went to Hu Hut Mongolian Grill for dinner. It was my first time and it was FUN!! For those who have never been, you basically get to pick & choose your meal and then have it cooked right in front of you. I selected lots of chicken in one bowl. In a second bowl, I chose Lo Mein Noodles, Cilantro, Cabbage, Spring Onions and selected the HOT HOT sauce. We stood in line while three or four guys stood around the grill and 'put on a show' while cooking our food. It was exciting to watch the various choices everyone made. My heart was full of happiness as I felt I was HOME! I LOVE San Antonio and one day I hope to move back!! My 'niece' Deandra helped me select my food and it was yummy! I had a great time with my Jen, Al, Ethan, Espen & Deandra! We came home and I got to meet Carly the newest addition to the family. She is a 9 week Rottweiler puppy whose goal in life is to be my 'nephew' Harley's girlfriend when she grows up! She immediately started biting on my toes and fingers. She is adorable! I am happy to be back in San Antonio. Tonight we are planning on going to a local comedy show! I will blog about my second day later on tonight! The evening ended with a great new experience at a fun restaurant and a quiet evening at home with the awesome Garza-Castillo family! My heart is content and I thank God for the safe trip on the bus, my adventure which turned out to be a REAL adventure! I am happy to see my 'nephew' Ethan which holds a big piece of my heart! One of the girls from the 'Sisterhood of the Traveling Stretchy Pants' is Jen. I will be staying with her these two weeks. She lets me get some experience in 'mommyhood' with her babies: Deandra, Ethan, Espen and now Carly! My Jen has an awesome heart! We've had our ups and downs, but overall she loves me! It doesn't hurt that her Al is a GREAT cook! I see a BBQ in the near future! Maybe he will make some more home-made cinammon rolls! They were yummy! ;) If we do BBQ, I will share my 'Pico de Gallo' recipe... MAYBE!!!! ;) I am waiting to see my Mari and her family! Of course, we can't leave my friend Daryl out! I met him when I was living in San Antonio and I can tell him anything! See you all tonight, my San Antonio peeps! To my Rio Grande Valley peeps, I love you & miss you! Don't miss me TOO much! 'Absence makes the heart grow fonder!' Hoping to get everything situated soon and keep getting my life back in order with God's help!! God bless, this was my FIRST day in San Antonio...... Sandralee O-U-T! ;) Much love!