Our Story: The Story of How We Met

If you had told me, 3 years ago, that I would be in an interracial relationship for two years, I would have never believed you. My interracial relationship turned from a friendship to dating to falling in love and now to moving forward in life together. This has been one of the most fulfilling relationships of my life. Interracial dating does come with many complications and can lead to many questions for everyone that is involved. Here is the story of my experience.

How we met? I met my honey 3 years ago. I was recruiting to form a new group, for one of the top banks in the U.S. He was one of two thousand resumes that I had looked at. He looked very promising on paper to me, but he looked very green in his experience. (He had just finished school.) What I remember very clearly, was that I was working for an Indian boss and he had wanted mostly Indian men for the positions of this new group. I couldn’t pronounce my future honey’s name. I had never seen his name, knew how to pronounce it or how to write it, until I saw it on his resume. I had to ask my Indian boss several times to help me with pronouncing his name.

Honey and my first interactions were over email. I was interested in him for one of the junior analyst positions. He and I wrote very professional emails back and forth. I just had a feeling about him being the right fit for the group. He was persistent on email, followed up with me every two weeks and I convinced the boss to interview him.

The day I met my future honey, he was wearing a suit that was way too big for him. I thought he looked like he was playing dress up in his father’s suit. He had one of the warmest and most genuine smiles I had ever seen. From the moment that I met him, I just wanted to give him a hug. Instead, I escorted him down to one of the conference rooms for his interview, got him some water and hoped for the best.

Future honey, was hired on a contract basis into the bank. ( He was hired into the bank full time and won service awards. Sorry to brag a little.) He sat in a cubicle behind me and we started talking daily and became work friends.

How did this casual work relationship become one of the most meaningful relationships of my life? If interracial friends are accepted, why can't society accept interracial dating as a norm?

Stay tuned for the Chapter 2 called Work Friends First.

Travel: Travel Shots for Brazil

We bought our tickets to travel to Brazil five months before our trip. This meant a great deal on our travel ticket price but it didn’t leave enough room for weather changes like Hurricane Ike hitting at the same time as we were connecting travel through Houston to San Francisco.

The scene: I had just settled into my airplane chair. (It takes me forever to find a comfortable position as my tray table always hits my knee, my eye mask falls off my face and someone seems to always bump my arm as they are walking down the aisle.) I was just starting to fall asleep when over the loud speaker the pilot said “Sorry ladies and gentlemen for the turbulence and the extra hour we are adding to our 9 hour flight from Sao Paulo Brazil to Houston. We have decided to fly over the hurricane. “

“What hurricane?” I asked in my slumber state.
~
I digress. Five months before our travel trip, I started asking everyone I knew about tips and tricks for travel to Brazil. I found out that I had some family members that had just traveled to Brazil. The main difference in our travel experiences is that they live in Canada. So I asked them.

me “Did you get travel shots?”

them “ No of course not. Other then a tetanus shot why would you need shots?”

me ” Well my doctor suggested that I get 4 different kinds of shots and to take/buy a bunch of antibiotics for just in case.”

them” Really wow. We spent 3 weeks in Brazil and our Canadian doctor didn’t suggest any more shots. You might want to check with your doctor.”

Which I did. “Doc, do I really need shots for typhoid, yellow fever, Hep A and B, tetanus, pills for travelers diarrhea etc.

doctor “Yes, you should to be on the careful side.”

me “But I called my PPO health insurance and they said they only cover travelers shots if you are traveling out of the country on business not on pleasure.”
(What is wrong with America’s health insurance?)

“Oh” said doc “in that case then I will send you to the City Shots Clinic and it will be cheaper for you there.”

My immediate thought of a city shots clinic was of a dark, scary, dusty and of homeless people walking in front of the clinic. I was pleasantly proven wrong. The City Shots clinic was a friendly, clean, bright office that was highly organized.

After meeting with my travel nurse, she suggested that I get about 8 different shots even though I wasn’t even traveling to the Amazon. Each shot cost around $80. My favorite was when she suggested two shots for my travel by asking if I was thinking about getting a tattoo or if I was an adventurous eater. She also reminded me to be careful of bats and rabies. Paranoid much? Can you say cha ching $$$ to the city!

I asked said Travel Nurse, let’s call her Nurse Betty, if one week was enough time for me to get my shots as I was traveling to South America next week. Nurse Betty "I would want people to get their shots even if there were sitting in the super shuttle on the way to the airport."

I walked out of there with just two shots I thought I would need. Hep A and Tetanus. My arms were burning from the sensation of having two shots into my muscle, but I was proud for going.

I think it was about a week into my travel trip to Brazil, that I realized how paranoid I was made to feel about getting shots. Knock on wood, nothing happened. And, surprisingly, a bat never flew out while I was sleeping to attack me full of rabies.

Next Travel Post Missing the Hurricane….

Travel Picture: Horse Bathing in the Atlantic Ocean

Travel Picture: Buzios, Brazil Praia Brava September 2008

This travel picture is of this horse being taken into the Atlantic Ocean to be washed and bathed buy his handler. The horse seemed to love it. He was playing with the water, galloping in the waves and throwing his head back. This was such a beautiful sight to see. The horse was so regal, so magical. This was the best picture taken out of 50. I hope you enjoy it.

Our Laundry Story: The Case of the Blue Pen

Last night my honey came over and I offered to do a load of laundry for him. We have very different ways of approaching tasks, neither are right or wrong and each make us unique. We care and are attracted to the fact that we are opposites.

He is a self proclaimed obsessive compulsive, excel loving, finance nerd. But his anal side is selective. I call it selective analism. Let me explain. When he wants to complete a task, the task is done in a very compulsive way, takes a long time and the task is done perfectly to his liking. BUT he can have a messy room. I am a self proclaimed, free spirit, multi-tasker. I can have four tasks going all at the same time. My tasks are completed quickly but never perfectly.

He will separate the laundry and use different detergents. I will throw all of the laundry together into one load maybe removing one or two items to be hung dry.

So, honey brought over some laundry saying that he needed some shirts cleaned. I needed my sheets and some laundry done so what did I do? Throw is all together. Did I check the pockets for anything left? No. Why you may ask? I never leave anything in my pockets so why check his?

Once the laundry was dry I brought it in to be folded. And then I noticed the blue pen laying gently in between my favorite baby blue sheets and white tank top.

"NoOOOOOooooo!"

There was blue ink on everything in the laundry. Some things were salvageable, but can this be either our faults?