Valencia Family Memoirs: Ohio 2010

Armando, Esperanza and I just spent the past week and a half in Ohio visiting my amazing family. Words can't describe how wonderful it was to be with them. It's been a couple of years since I've seen them, and even longer since I've spent the amount of quality time we got in this visit. If Ohio wasn't so far away from where we live and the family we have here, I'd consider moving there.

The flight there and back wasn't as bad as I had expected. Keeping Esperanza confined to my lap on a plane for several hours is an impossible and unrealistic task. On the way there, she ran up and down the isle, stopping to stare at people in their seats or chat with other little kids. On the way home, we got lucky and switched to a row that had an extra seat where Esperanza slept a good portion of the flight. Flying is uncomfortable for most people I think, and even more so for little kids. Even though it went fairly well, I can say that the flight experience as well as the time difference has helped me make up my mind that there is no way I'll be taking her to Greece this summer while Armando is there. It would be an amazing experience for me, but cruel to her. I made a mental list of the pros and cons of taking her, and the cons outweighed the pros by a lot.

Back to Ohio...We spent the first few days adjusting to the time difference, staying up well past midnight, and getting over a bad cold that must have been caught on the plane. Eventually we fell into a routine and felt right at home. The first night we were there, Esperanza woke up in the middle of the night, sat up in bed and said 'woof, woof - doggy!'. This was the first time I'd heard her immitate the sound of a dog. Even sick and deprived of sleep, it was pretty darn cute.

It didn't take Esperanza long to warm up to Aunt Marti (or Yiayia), yet she never fully got comfortable with Uncle John - though I think it just became more of a teasing game to her when he wanted to hold her and she would freak out. I think she secretly really enjoyed him. When we were getting in the car to leave for the airport and head home, she reached up to her Great-Grandpa for the first time (without bribery I should add) and wanted to be picked up for a goodbye hug and kiss! This was priceless and of course the camera wasn't within reach.

Esepranza also had a great time playing with the kids, all 7 of them. Geneva's kids Anycia, Antonio & Angelica are staying with Monique, Andre and their4 kids; Enrique, Apache, Jullian and Elijah. We spent a lot of time over there visiting with them. Monique is such an amazing woman with a huge heart and soul that glows. I wish I could surround myself with her if only just so her calmness and grounding effect could rub off on me a little.

I took a ton of pictures, and so did Marti. The pictures below are all from Marti's camera. We did so much in such a short period of time, I can't talk about it or show it all at once. Check back soon for more Ohio pictures from my camera and some short stories to go along with them.

Grandpa Al holding Esperanza - with bribery of course

Going in for a kiss

Esperanza loved Marti's slippers and got pretty good at walking around in them

Anycia & Grandpa

Esperanza and Nikko

Could she be any more beautiful?

Aunt Marti and her favorite little girls

When it was time to take the kids home one evening, Esperanza gave Angelica a big hug goodbye. The goodbye lasted a very long time and she would scream if I tried to take her off of Angelica. She loves Angelica so much and the feeling is so obviously mutual. As I often do in many situations, I used bribery to get her off of Angelica after we got a few photos of Esperanza holding on to her for dear life. Though I will miss Angelica a lot, I don't think I can even imagine how much Esperanza will miss her.