Mother's Day

Mother's Day this year has many meanings.  It's new for me in the "Mother" sense.  I get to stand proudly at church now when they ask all of the Mommies to stand.  I get to gaze down at the (not so) little bundle that has made me overjoyed and given me this honorable title of "Mommy".  I get to cry with happiness during the sweet video they show at church of Mommies and their babies (of all ages) loving on eachother and talk about the special relationship that "Mom" is. I get to have a special day that my boys have planned and prepared to honor the job I'm doing in raising our son- though definitely not alone.  It has been alongside my husband, who is the best Daddy in the world.  It has been with the help, direction, and influence of my Mom.  It has been with the shared conversations and ideas with my sister and my closest friends who are going through this stage of life too.  It has been with the love that all of those that surround us have provided.  We have the most loving, supporting family and friends.  I couldn't do the job of "Mom" without all of you embracing, guiding, encouraging me.  I'm in the Mom club this year.  And it is such a blessing that I am sure to count daily.  It has been in the top 2 events of my life (the other being marrying Zach). 

My parents in 1982 at their prom--Aren't they beautiful!!

My mom on my wedding day!  Thanks for being my biggest support!

Always helping me- in every way.

But, on Mother's Day the first thing that I think of is celebrating my Mom.  What a woman.  She has been so many things to me through these years.  She has first and foremost been a loving caretaker.  My mom has shown me how to love my own son.  I think of the unconditional love she showed me my whole life through.  And does just as strongly today.  It fills my heart and I work towards being that to Carter and will continue to work towards that with my future child(ren).  She stood by my side through very tough moments.  In 1st grade, that was accompanying me to my teacher to admit that I cheated on a test and use that as a loving yet teachable moment.  Her and my teacher showed me such grace.  It was a small, but important lesson to learn.  Now, I have the conscience the size of the universe.
 In 6th grade, that was tending to the heartache of a young girls breakup.  You know, the relationship that you think is going to be "The One".  I remember crying on the stairs to our basement with Mom there hugging me and saying all the right things.  That's a moment that only Mom can make better. 
In 7th grade, that was helping guide a tempermental pre-teen through saying goodbye to friends and moving to another state, decalring the whole way through how "It's not fair" "I'm not going" "This is the worst thing that could happen to me".  I give her so much credit for that one.  It's hard enough to help show a child the good in leaving all they know, their friends, their school.  It's harder doing that with a pre-teen who thinks the world should evolve around them.  It's hardest coming to a social environment and guiding to fit in to what the "norm" is there.  In my case, it was going from the biggest, baggiest jeans that was the trend in Colorado with huge Nike T-shirts, brown lined white out lips and curled big bangs to wearing "preppy" (in my then opinion) clothes that Arlington, Texas demanded.  The school I went to was dress code enforced which was the grace I needed.  The Colorado outfit described above was what I planned on wearing the first day of 8th grade. That's the simplest "what everyone wears" outfit.  HA! The first birthday party I was invited to, my Mom saved me by letting me dig through her closet (probably making not so nice comments the whole way through) and borrowing her "fitted jeans and shirt" as I was told by a classmate that they wore.  She helped me find me and define me.  She embraced the awkward pre teen and loved me.  She guided gently though and helped me be the best I could be in that stage.  And the next. And the next. 

Islamorada, Florida 2010

Always up for fun!

Supporting every stage of my life.

She loves her grandson. <3

One of my favorite memories with my mom was her coming to visit me in Europe when I lived there.  We had so much fun together.  She first met me in Amsterdam, on the tail end of Zach's trip visiting me.  That meant she got to meet the man I was crazy in love with.  That was so special to me.  Her acceptance matters a lot to me because she is a huge part of my life and always will be.  The wonderful thing about her though, is she will find the good in anyone.  Luckily, that was easy with Zach and she fell in love with him too! :)  After we played in Amsterdam, I took her to my hometown, Vlissingen where she met all of my silly friends.  We had a dinner party so that she could meet everyone and see what we do every night too.  We took her to some of our favorite spots in Vlissingen.  She is such an amazing person to bring around anyone because she is so social and friendly.  Everyone falls in love with her.

Getting ready for a dinner party at Michyl's flat

We went to visit Cologne, Germany and Vienna, Austria.  We had a blast together going through the Christmas markets- which we are both Christmas Crazed!, running to a train so we wouldn't be late, getting stuck in a train for hours because of a storm, going to operas, drinking literally hunderds of Starbucks together (sorry Dad), celebrating Thanksgiving together- thanks Mom for allowing me to not be alone on a fmaily holiday!, exploring new things.  She was the greatest travel partner.  We talked non stop and loved every moment together.  It was a trip stacked full of memories.  You'll have to look for my Austria-Germany post to read details.  :)

Drinking Gluhwein in Germany to get warm. 

Mom's holding "Christi"--we brought her with us!

Our Thanksgiving meal in Vienna, Austria

Enjoying a yummy beer in Amsterdam

Now, it's everything.  I turn to her with one million questions about parenting, life, relationships, daily events.  Everything.  We talk daily, often multiple times a day.  We do so much together!  She has been my best friend, but now at an age that we bond on a different level, she is really my best friend.  She is that person who stands by me through it all.  My silliness, my happiness, my sadness, my mistakes and my wins! 

Celebrating Christi's upcoming marriage

I have so many wonderful memories with my mom and truly believe that I am blessed with the best mom in the world!! 
These days, my mom and I, as a mom too, relate on another level.  The mommy level.  Life keeps bringing us closer and closer.  She loves my son so much and it makes my heart happy.  She supports my family with all the love and care she shows.  I feel like now that I am a Mom, I understand a bit more the depth of the love she has for me too - as her child.  And it does make me have even more love for her.  It's a funny thing, but all of a sudden, things are more clear and love has a different, deeper definition.

We love you!

One of my favorite things is having slumber parties with her.  We do that fairly often now.  Usually when Zach travels for work, since I am a scaredy cat, my mom will spend the night with me.  We have so much fun cooking dinner and chatting.  I am not a night owl these days but for some reason when Mom spends the night, we both find ourselves staying up later than normal.  We just get wrapped up in talking and enjoying eachother that it keeps us wide eyed.  And I love that.  It's such a blessing having a loving Mom, but even more, a Mom I relate to, connect with, and have a blast being around!  Did I mention I truly have become my mom?  :)  They say that happens....and I think...if I'm going to "become" someone, I am so glad it's her!  She is the greatest!
Mom, I don't know what I would do without you!  I love you with my whole heart and love you more and more all the time.  I actually got teary eyed writing this and thinking of everything you are to me and how much I love you! 
Happy Mother's Day to the Greatest Mom in the World! (and we sure have traveled it over- I haven't seen any greater! ;)

The Love story





My hubby's gone for the night on business travel.  I was thinking about how very special he is.  Obviously.  :)  But it made me start thinking about the beginning of "us".  What a fun story that is!  Many of you know it, but I sure like to relive it!  So, I am!   Right now.     Well, I went to college at Texas State, Zach went to University of Florida.  He was the Exchange (an apartment community) manager in Florida and was transferred to the Exchange in San Marcos (YAY!).  I worked for him for quite awhile as a leasing agent.  I remember thinking how poised, mature, eloquent in his speaking he was.  And HOT! :)  But, that's all.  Admiring from afar.  We didn't even hang out except for when the whole office did together.  Until, turn.  Turn is when all the student move out of their apartments and we fully prepare the apartments for the newcomers.  This equates to about 10 16 hour days in a row.  Everyone is required to work it.  Needless to say, it makes us all very close!  Zach and I were put on a "sparkle team" together meaning that we were to clean the apartments as eachother's partners.  YAY!  Let the fun begin.  We actually made cleaning a blast.  We told eachother all kinds of stories of our families, our lives, and even made up silly stories to pass the time away.  Even 2 people who talk nonstop sometimes run out of things to talk about.  Well, at the end of turn, I was getting ready to move to Europe for my study abroad program!  Therefore, that meant we were not even thinking of pursuing anything with eachother.  I had 1 week in between turn and moving in San Marcos.  Zach was supposed to be flying out the day after turn to help another property with their turn.  (Ironically?) he missed his flight.  I think he did this on purpose to have time with me ;).  So, we spent the whole week together just hanging out.  We played at the pool, watched movies, hung out with friends, had a picnic lunch, and I even thought I would impress him by "cooking" for him...that's the way to a man's heart - right?  So, boxed Mac N Cheese it is!  Haha, little did I know he is like a wonderful CHEF!  He still pretended to be impressed though.  What a good man.  Well, the week was fun, but it was time to move.  Like anything could actually develop while I lived in the Netherlands for 5 months....

The Netherlands:  Selia (my best friend in college) and I arrived in London to do some traveling prior to getting settled into school.  She called her boyfriend when we got there, and multiple days after that.  One of those days, I said...well, if you're calling him, I'll just call Zach and see how he's doing.  It was out of the blue- I'm sure he wasn't expecting that at all.  We talked at as much ease as before and had so much fun.  I wouldn't admit yet that I truly liked him, because I kept thinking of the distance and how impossible that was.  Selia knew though.  And she wouldn't let me get away with not admitting it.  It ended up turning into trading daily emails with him.  I would wake up (no matter where we were- in Vlissingen for school, or in another country traveling around) and write him a lengthy email in response to his lengthy email.  We started playing  a get to know you game too where we asked eachother questions in every email...some silly, some deep....just really wanting to understand eachother.  We then began 2 of these per day, and they were long, detailed emails.  This turned into a phone call a day.  And multiple ones.  Selia and I even got a cell phone there to share and that allowed me to talk to him more often.  

So, I left the end of August, we started talking about him coming to visit...halfway just testing the waters with eachother to see what the other would say.  A short 2 weeks later, his trip was booked to come in November and be with me for my birthday!  And here is where everything starts snowballing (in a beautiful way).  He was/is so romantic, he sent me flowers and teddy bears and love notes throughout my stay and we both anticipated our reunion.  Finally it was time.



My friends that came to visit for my birthday in Amsterdam

Amsterdam:  I rode the train very nervously to Amsterdam which was 1 1/2 hours from my flat in Vlissingen.  He got off the plane.  We ran to eachother (I was sooo excited and nervous) and immediately locked in eachother's arms...and stayed that way the rest of the trip.  Sickening to most, I'm sure.  We sure were/are that sappy, must be near, touching holding hands, arms around eachother, sneak in kisses at every opportunity kind of couple.  And we love it.  So many friends met us in Amsterdam to celebrate my birthday.  And he was such a gentleman the whole time.  Conversing with all- he was sure to learn how to say "Cheers" in Georgian (the language from the country, not the state), opening doors, helping at any opportunity.  I was falling for this man...fast.  And everyone could see it.  One of my dear friends, Gencer, who I talked to about everything always asked me before Zach came "Does he make you happy?  Is he good for you?  Tell me about him.."  He wanted to be sure that I wasn't just starry eyed and that we were really good for eachother...because we were moving fast in our feelings and G was always trying to protect.  When he met him, he said "Ohhh wow, Nicki, you are very happy and you are very good for eachother.  He is a good man.  (Gencer (G) is the one kneeled down with the hat on).   After the 3 days in Amsterdam, I had to go back to Vlissingen to take some tests and Zach was going to visit Switzerland, Rome, and Antwerpen, Belgium. We were going to meet in Paris for our special one on one time!

Paris:   Ultimate Romance.  

Did you know I have the most romantic man in the world?  Well, I do.  :)  He had some dates planned for us in Paris.  We coincidentally stumbled upon eachother on the train to Paris.  His flight to Prague had randomly gotten cancelled and so he and his 2 friends re routed to Antwerpen, from there, he got on a different train from the one we planned to meet eachother from and it happened to be the same one I was on!  What a good thing, because we didn't know how we'd meet up otherwise.  His friends went their seperate way when we got to Paris and Zach and I found our hotel.  OOOO what a quaint little place it was.  It had a Juliet balcony and looked onto the narrow Parisian streets. 

We went walking around and shopping because that night was our first date night. We were going to take a dinner boat cruise down the Seine River passing Paris' most beautiful sights including the Eiffel Tower.  The evening was nothing less than magical.  We had a little table next to the window with wine and a 5 course dinner.  The live music serenaded us and the others the whole time and created a surreal atmosphere.  We finally decided to get up and dance (our very first dance)...and at that moment, the band stopped and Michael Jackson's Billy Jean came on.  Haha, not quite as romantic but very comical.  We had a blast.                                                       

Hotel before our first date





Dinner Boat cruise





Magical Moments

It was a perfect date! 

We spent the day touring Paris the next day, seeing the Louvre, Notre Dame, grabbing a baquet and cheese and eating in one of the parks, listening to the people speaking in their beautiful French language, disbelieving that we were sitting in the most romantic place in the world with eachother.  We were fully wrapped up in it.  And then then 2nd date night came:  We got all dressed up again and went to have dinner-in the Eiffel Tower, overlooking this majestic city.  Again we were swept off of our feet with our surroundings.  We were up in the Eiffel Tower!!!  Truly.  No words can describe it.  We had such wonderful conversation together and couldn't do much besides (CHEESY ALERT) search each other's eyes, intertwine our fingers together, and continuously share our hopes for the future.  That early on, we both knew what we wanted out of this and it sure did pay off in the end! :)  After dinner, we went to the Moulin Rouge where I was pleasantly surprised that it was very classy.  The costuming was so elaborate with crystals dangling from the outfits and feathers protruding out the sides.  It was breathtaking.  It was one of the most amazing shows I have ever seen!  Yes, being in Paris is romantic and breathtaking, but the true beauty in it was that I was finally with Zach, my man, my future husband.  I had been waiting for this time for months! 

The Louvre

Moulin Rouge in all its glory.  The elaborate costumes

The rest of the time in Paris was as magical!  We loved every moment together. 

 My mom was heading to come visit me and she was going to get to meet Zach on the tail end of his trip...perfect!  So, mom met Zach and I in Amsterdam and we spent 2 days together.  She said immediately she knew I was going to marry him- I acted different and talked different about him then I had ever done before.  She was so confident, she called my Dad and said "this is it".  It was wonderful to get to have them interact so early on too.  What a big step.  Mom flew all the way to Europe to meet my hubby to be.  And technically, he flew all that way to meet his future Momma In Law.  :)

Zach left and I was sad but knew that I would be with him again soon.  It was sooner than I expected....he called when he got back to the States and asked me if I would come home for his company Christmas party...this would be just a few weeks before I was coming back for good.  I wanted to so badly.  I missed him.  I ended up flying home for the weekend to go with him, and turning right around (with big tears in my eyes) to go finish my amazing time in Europe.  I was thrilled for my upcoming travel adventures but knew a BIG piece of my heart was at home with Zach.  I didn't want to leave Europe...I thought I could stay there forever....Zach came at the perfect time because that sure made me excited and ready to get home to him.  If my surreal life in Vlissingen had to be wrapped up, at least I was going home to true love, to start down this new road with Zach. 

I love him more than anything and know that God really put us together to love eachother completely.  I never could fathom a love like this existed, but it does.  It's real.  It's beautiful.  It blossomed in a fairy tale romance but has grown and bloomed in the real world and gotten stronger with every trial, every joy, every experience we've shared.  It's everything I could ask for.  My heart is full. 

PS...I think my favorite part is Zach said the very first time he saw me, he told his friend Mike, "I'm going to marry Nicki Pohl.  Just watch."  Mike backs it up.  I love that.