I miss Albuquerque

As I said in a post last night, I am very glad to be home.  I have missed my family and friends very much over the last 10 years, and there is nothing like good ole southern hospitality.  I don't think that I have opened my own door since we got back here :)

However, we lived in Albuquerque for 8 years and I miss it terribly....more than I ever dreamed that I would.  Everyone there assumed that we were a couple, and they didn't care.  I really took that for granted.  We were treated with the same amount of respect and concern as any "married" couple, both in my work, while fostering, and just being out in the public in general.  However, any time that we went out to eat, the server would always hand Tammy the bill (male chauvenism I suppose; as she is pretty butch and I am not at all :) and she never had a dime!  But we always got a kick out that :)

Some of our neighbors here in Kentucky have been incredible and treat us just like family.  And I have been "out" for so long that I refuse to go back in, so my co-workers, whether they like it or not, are continually exposed to my diverse little family.  So, in our little community, we are here to stay...........

But I miss the green chile, the Mexican food, Mariachi music, our Saturday daycare, the mixture of cultures, the Hispanic heritage that was all around (especially since we have 2 Hispanic children), The International School where our girls attended and they were learning Spanish and Mandarin, The Bataan Military Academy that our son attended, and just the overall attitude of the west in regard to "I don't care what you do-just leave me and mine alone...."

Albuquerque, New Mexico will always be a part of us.  Will we ever move back there?  That is a fair question; and quite honestly, I don't know.  But, all of our children were born there, we adopted all of our children there, and it will always be "in our blood..........."

This is a photo of Sophie and Jack Henry (our 2 children who are Hispanic-yes Jack Henry is-even with his blue eyes and blond hair lol :)) that was taken at our last trip to McCall's Pumpkin Patch in New Mexico.  Jack Henry is even wearing his Rio Grande Zoo hat that was purchased at the zoo in Albuquerque; which is one of our favorite places in this world.  We could go on and on about the things that we took for granted there...hindsight is 20/20......another one of life's lessons.