Know Your (marital) Rights

A snippet of Monday's text message conversation between Tony and me:

Me: Hey, you need to call 623-251-6861 (Cox) and add me as an authorized user. You also need to tell them to switch our package from "Sports/Info" to "Variety." I was on hold for 15 minutes so I assume you'll probably be as well. I can't watch Martha Stewart or Everyday Food because those programs switched to to the Hallmark channel, which we don't get because we opted to get 17 sports channels you never watch. And I know this is inconvenient but if I had been put on the account initially I could have handled it myself. I would really like to watch the premier of Martha Stewart today at 10:00 a.m. so I'd appreciate prompt action on your part.

Tony: Done and done. :-) Everything alright there?

Me: Yeah I'm fine, I'm sorry I was grouchy.

Tony: No problem, it's hard to deduce tone from text messages so I couldn't really tell so I wasn't sure what to think of it.

Me: Oh good, well the woman at Cox wouldn't have had that problem when I said, "I am his wife! You mean to tell me that I am sufficiently 'authorized' to turn off his life support if he's ever in a serious accident but I can't switch his cable package??"

Tony: "HA! You actually said that to her??"

Me: "Yes. I really wanted to watch the Martha premier."

Tony: "Wow. We have got to get you a job so you can go back to fighting with other attorneys and stop picking on our poor cable lady."

Med school studies

Who: Mr. and Mrs. Maiolino
What: early morning conversation
When: Monday, September 6, 2010; 6:10a.m.
Where: bed of Mr. and Mrs. Maiolino
Why: because one of us is in medical school
Status: Mr. Maiolino has awakened, Mrs. Maiolino is trying to stay asleep
Event:
Mr. - "Are you awake?"
Mrs. - (silence)
Mr. - "Linds?"
Mrs. - "What?"
Mr. - "Ah...what are your plans today?"
Mrs. - "I don't know. Why?"
Mr. - "Well I have an exam tomorrow, so I really need your plans today to include making chocolate chip cookies."
Mrs. - "It's 6:00 in the morning. On a holiday."
Mr. - "I know, I just wanted to get that in there before you finalized your plans."
Mrs. - (silence)

I made them.

I also helped him...study. Since it was an anatomy exam and all.

;-)

Hot! But Gross.

Today is Tony's first day of Gross Anatomy Lab, which in my opinion (and with all due respect to the generous people who donated their bodies to science), is pretty much what it sounds like.

The dissection of actual human cadavers for scientific enrichment. Gross, I agree.

But check out how super hot Tony looks in his scrubs!




So hot I couldn't stop taking pictures.










Which he found kinda annoying...








And here he is on the first day of podiatry school. All smiles at breakfast, all stressed by dinner. Wow I'm glad I don't have to go through law school again...

Two Years: The Art of Flying a Kite

Today is our two year wedding anniversary.

As we sat beside each other at the table at Fleming's to celebrate I asked my husband, "If you could go back in time two years and give yourself advice about our marriage, what would it be?"

At this juncture, I feel I should inform you that our two-year marriage includes, but is not limited to (that's right, I just took the bar; again.): a law degree, three pets, a cross-country move, two bar exams, the MCAT's, medical school applications/interviews, job applications/interviews, decorating, redecorating, twelve major holidays + travel time to be with family/guilt for not traveling to be with family, as well as all the normal new-married- stuff...

He tilted his head slightly while drumming his fingers on the table and staring off into space, as he is wont to do while contemplating which Red Sox player will be on the DL next, how long are he'll be out for, and whether the Red Sox have any hope of making the play-offs without him.

So I was pretty sure I'd lost him.

But after a moment he said, "I'd tell me: 'Sometimes, you just gotta be the kite-holder.'"

I'd summarize the rest of the conversation, but it just wouldn't convey. So here it is verbatim:

Me: "What?"

Tony: "The kite-holder. The one standing there, on the ground, holding the reel of the kite."

Me: "...why?"

Tony: "Because I didn't know it when we got married, but that's my job sometimes: just stand there and hold on. I reel you in when you get a little too high or when you're going a little too crazy; but basically I just stand there, hold on, and enjoy it. I may not understand what's going on or what's going to happen next, but it's always a hell of a lot of fun and I'm always glad I'm there."
Now that may have been a description of just me (a much more insightful description than I would normally be willing to share online were it not so brilliant) but, from all my two-years of experience, I can't think of a better way to describe marriage.

We don't always understand what's going on

or what's going to happen next,

but it is a lot of fun

and,
at least when it comes to being married to Tony,

I'm always glad I'm there.

2 Days of Summer...readysetgo!

Tony and I met in college. Then we moved to Bloomington, Indiana where he began a post-bac, pre-med program and I eventually attended three years of law school. Then we moved to Indianapolis where he continued his post-bac classes and completed a two-year master's program. Now we've moved to Arizona, while I was studying to take the Arizona bar exam, so that he could start a four-year podiatry program. That will be followed by a three-year residency.

His classes start on Monday. I took the last part of the bar exam this morning.

Do you people know what this means???

It means that for the first time in EIGHT YEARS together Tony and I have a weekend where neither one of us has to study!!!*

I don't think we even know what to do with all that free time. Thank goodness it's only one weekend and then we get back to our normal can-you-come-get-the-cat-out-of-here-he's-bothering-me-I'll-be-out-when-I-finish-this-chapter-and-can-you-bring-me-a-glass-of-water-and-maybe-Tuesday-night's-leftover-eggplant-parm-no-I-didn't-eat-it-for-lunch-yesterday-no-wait-I-did-okay-how-about-some-popcorn?

So what exactly do you non-studying couples DO on weekends?

*This should not be taken to mean that there has never been a weekend where one of us wasn't studying, just that there hasn't been one where one of us was supposed to be studying.

Ta-da!

B & G's

As an official farewell to Indiana Tony and I went out for breakfast on Sunday and, to commemorate our time here, partook of traditional Midwestern fare: biscuits and gravy.

Our meal was not only bizarrely disgusting and a reckless threat to our personal health, but included that special Hoosier ambiance that we'll be so sorry to leave behind. A man, feasting with his wife at a table nearby, complained about eve.ry.thing.

First he didn't like the menu choices and swapped-out most of the meal he ordered. Of course he added a side order of ribs to go with his biscuits and gravy (yes, ribs. At 9:30 in the morning.).

Then he complained when the toast was whole-wheat and made the server replace it with white.

Next he was quite furious when he discovered (like 10 minutes into his feasting) that he only got two eggs when he wanted three. This led to my favorite moment of the meal. Tony whispered, "Come on...imply that the kitchen staff are here illegally and this will be the full experience..." And, happy to comply, our fellow diner yelled, "You wouldn't have this problem if you employed AMERICANS. Go back there and tell them that it's supposed to be THREE eggs!! UNO, DOS, TRES!!!"

How, exactly the poor, beleaguered, waitress was responsible for employing non-Americans is still not very clear to me. But it did cost her her tip (we know because you pay at the register and he was in line directly in front of us to pay, in cash, and nothing was left on the table).

My father, who attended college in Indiana, informs me that there is no better cure for a hangover than a piping hot plate (bowl?) of, as he affectionately calls them, "B&G's." I have never experimented with this particular home remedy, but I have to wonder how good it can really be for your kidneys (and liver and all your other organs), already over-taxed trying to filter excessive alcohol consumption out of your system, to now have the onerous task of filtering whatever is actually in sausage gravy out of your battered body as well. But perhaps healthy decision-making is not on the top of the list for someone using all their conscious energy trying not to vomit.