It seems like only last week when I was waiting with anticipation at the local airport for my wife to arrive. There was some snow on the ground on a cold morning on the 11th of January 2016. The last time we were together we were waiting for my early morning flight out of Davao City to board on May 22 of 2015, so it had been eight months.
When the plane arrived, I went downstairs to find her and there she was, looking for her luggage, all bundled up in warm clothes looking smaller than I had remembered. She was so cute. When I saw her, there were no fireworks on her part, no running to each other with arms stretched out, she merely said “Let’s go to the car”, or something like that, after we hugged.
I was hoping for a little more display of emotion but it is only fitting that from the moment we meet in America to be together as husband and wife, that I began to learn new things about her, because we got married very quickly. Now that we are here together, we will continue to learn about each other. Here are many things I have learned about her that I hope can be of some benefit to you.
--She is fairly reserved and generally not one to show a lot of emotion in public.
--My family is her family and she treats them with the same respect. She refers to my mother as “mom”.
--My friends are her friends.
--Like she had told me, she really is a homebody, but so am I. Good for us.
--Her love of children is genuine.
--She is a good shopper. She told me that in the Philippines sales are only on certain occasions like Christmas, but she didn’t realize things are on sale all the time over here. I remember her exclaiming with glee “Sale!”, then later again “Sale!” as we were shopping.
--She likes shoes, purses, and watches. Filipinas dream of having designer brand things so I bought her some but she waited until there was a good sale. Now she buys her own.
--Having these things hasn’t spoiled her.
--I have asked her many times, daily actually, how her day was going at work and every time she responds with “Good”. I keep asking for more clarity but often don’t get it.
--Sometimes I wished she was more talkative, but I have to realize, that isn’t her personality.
--She is not afraid to go downstairs with me if “I heard a noise in the basement”.
---In order to get her attention while she’s reading Facebook, she wants me to say “are you listening?” This doesn’t always work!
--She likes some scary movies, which is helpful when I need to jump into her arms at the scary parts.
--She wasn’t kidding when she said she was a hard worker. She has impressed management at work.
--She dislikes getting up early. Despite that, she can wake up, shower and be ready to leave for work in about ten minutes. I can’t even read what the weather is going to be like in that time.
--She takes pride in the way our home looks.
--She is a bright. She handles all the “electronic stuff” here, thankfully, like setting up our computer, tablets, and Echo Dot. Even set up the garage door opener.
--She loves cooking and has learned how to use an oven, microwave, coffee maker, crock pot and stove. These are all likely new to a Filipina. I love her banana bread!
--She loves Facebook. I tell her that I wish she was paid for all the time she spends on it. This is her connection to family and friends back home. There will probably be times you feel like you’re being overlooked and I urge you to be patient with her.
--She doesn’t like cold weather (72 degrees qualified at first), but I think she is getting used to it.
--Despite hating cold weather, she went jogging one winter morning at what felt like 25 degrees!
--She cleans up after herself.
--She wants our car to be clean and neat, like our house. This is another thing I am grateful for.
--She hates rudeness, especially by me. Sometimes we disagree on what is and isn’t rude.
--She doesn’t like me to raise my voice or use bad language (neither do I).
--When she points out something I’m doing wrong, she’s right.
--I like how she laughs to herself when she sees or reads something funny on Facebook.
--She likes earning her own money. She has sent a lot of money home but has not wasted any. She works 40 to 60 hours a week at the same place I do.
I’ve learned more good things about my wife I will share in Part 2 on Love Beyond The Sea
