thank you mom.

"The moment a child is born, the mother is also born. She never existed before. The woman existed, but the mother, never. A mother is something absolutely new." -- Rajneesh

I remember waking up on Mother's Day when I was younger and eagerly running in to my mom's bedroom to give her flowers that my dad helped me pick out. Funny how nearly twenty years later, some things never change. And while my dad wasn't there to help me pick out flowers this time, and my mom wasn't in the room next door when I woke up, I still waited eagerly to give her flowers that were meant just for her. The thing is, no matter how old I get, I know that I will always be my parent's daughter-- their first child, their first baby girl. And as the eldest child in his family, I know Alphonse shares a similar sentiment. Even now with plans to possibly move away for medical school and to one day start a family of our own, we know that we will never be far, in mind or body, from our families and the people we love. And even though it may seem as though every thing else around us is changing, we know that some things, like flowers on Mother's Day, will always be exactly the same.

So without further ado, we would like to say Happy Mother's Day to the two special women that we've been blessed with. Words cannot begin to describe how grateful we are for the ways you've loved us. And even as we continue to plan for our wedding, we are so thankful for all the support and encouragement you've given us so far... only fifteen months to go!

Alphonse, Rosanne, Cathy, Katrina -- Mother's Day 2008

As an aside for other current or future brides-to-be, here are some loose guidelines for the roles of mother of the bride and mother of the groom. Apparently one of the big responsibilities for the MOB is picking out a dress... if only everything in life was so easy/difficult :) .

"Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you." -- Exodus 20:12

i will survive...

"Love one another and you will be happy. It's as simple and as difficult as that." -- Michael Leunig

Tomorrow marks the beginning of May, which means we've been engaged for nearly three months! Hard to believe... time really does fly. In that time we've failed to secure a date, a church, or a reception hall, and we've had a lot of fun doing so. But fret not-- we plan to have all of the aforementioned taken care of by the end of May. In the mean time, we're enjoying being engaged. I wish Al and I could take full credit for the success of our engagement thus far, but alas, where would we be without our handy-dandy Engagement Survival Kit?! Yes, a couple of weeks ago one of Al's co-workers gave us our very own E.S.K. filled with cute and cheesy goodies to encourage us during this happy time. Among the 20+ contents of our E.S.K were Good & Plenty candies so we "always remember the 'good' times and have 'plenty' of them;" crayons "to 'color' our days;" and seeds so that our "love would grow stronger and even more wonderful with each passing year."

All together, a very thoughtful, creative, and artistic gift that I'm sure any newly engaged couple would appreciate. Speaking of recent engagements, congratulations to my college friends Lee Ann and Laura, both of whom got engaged this past week.

"I'm covered in your love, Your grace is enough for me"

love and baseball

"You look forward to it like a birthday party when you're a kid. You think something wonderful is going to happen." -- Joe DiMaggio about Opening Day

Two months ago Al and I bought tickets to the last home opener at Shea Stadium. At 1:10 PM today, with the first pitch of the ball game, weeks of anticipation finally gave way to reality. The sun was shining, the seats were filled, the smell of good ol' stadium food was in the air, and the Mets were winning. It was a (nearly) perfect ball game, at least for the first six innings. But then, like many good things, the sun dropped behind the stands, the crowd grew rowdy, and the Mets bullpen fell apart. Before we knew it we were on a train back to Manhattan and the Mets had another loss on their record. Right about now you might expect me to start talking about how love is like baseball, curve balls and all... but that's been done before, sorta (rent this). Instead I wanted to talk about the role sports have played in our relationship and our wedding planning...


Over the past two years or so Al and I have been to countless sporting events and watched even more on tv. When I told my fiance that I was writing about sports, he started listing off facts, such as: "John Elway was drafted by the Yankees but refused to play because they didn't offer him enough money. The Colts also gave him an offer, but he refused that, too, because it was too low," and many others including very specific names and dates. And while most of these facts went over my head I can say that, as two people who were each very involved in sports in high school, watching sports together and (usually) rooting for the same team has been one of my favorite parts of our relationship. Of course it's most fun when our teams win, but even when they lose, it's enjoyable to partake in the experience together. This probably goes without saying, but for any relationship to thrive, I definitely recommend finding an activity that you can enjoy together and doing it as often as possible! When we first started planning our wedding we were thinking of having it in September, but then sports came in to play in a new and different way. I realized that a late September wedding, although autumnally pleasing, fell at possibly the worst time of the year-- the end of regular season baseball and the start of football season. When I shared this news with my "wishes-he-was-a-sportscaster" fiance he replied, "And that's how you know a girl's a keeper." To say the least, we are no longer planning a September wedding. In fact, this weekend we are visiting my home church and seeing what dates they have available in August 2009. Wish us luck-- major moves are to be made in the near future!


"Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever." -- 1 Corinthians 9:24-25