How I met your Mother - part 4 First I told my Uncle Bob and aunt Marie who lived locally. They were very supportive. They were a bit surprised but vey much wanted me to be happy so they encouraged me I was doing the right thing. They were the only ones who reacted that way. My brother and sisters and friends were shocked. They reacted that way. In fairness I had not prepared them. The same with my mom. I was not prepared for resistance on that front. I told her how we met, how we talked about my future brother in law and this was not something I was doing on a whim or out of desperation. She asked many intelligent questions that made me think. I followed what Duralyn had done with me-I answered each question honestly and let the chips fall where they may. My mom did not understand this trip-why would I go halfway around the world to meet someone when I had little trouble meeting people right here. I told her I was in love with Duralyn-to her credit she did explain to me I never actually met her in person so that was hard for her to accept but in the end she agreed I should go. I sent out copies of my itinerary and made the arrangements to cover my absence from work. I was on my way. What do I remember about that first trip? Once I arrived in Washington DC I walked right into a seven foot tall man named Greg Oden. He could not have been nicer. I excused myself and recognized him and shook his hand and wished him luck in the upcoming NBA draft. He was drafted first over all but that was the last good luck he would have for a while. I heard he just signed a free agent contract with the Miami Heat. I wish him good luck with that. The rest of the trip was a long blur-long lines in customs and even longer time spent in the airplanes! I do remember the airport in Japan was impeccably clean and the toilets there had heated seats that used warmed water to clean you automatically instead of toilet paper including warm air dry. All the police wore white gloves to avoid getting fingerprints on the glass doors. It ran like clockwork. I liked that. Flying from Narita International Airport in Japan to Manila I was surrounded by people from the Philippines and they all asked me why I was going to their country. I replied I was going there on business. I wanted to talk to nursing school graduates from Silliman College in Dumaguete to hire for my home health care business. I was embarrassed to tell them but once they heard I was single and had my own business they all had a family member they wanted to me to meet. That didn’t ever happen stateside! Arriving in Manila I put on my lei. I had told Duralyn I would wear one and she should wear one so we would see each other right away. It was funny-we had talked hundreds of hours on camera and seen each other but I was nervous. Maybe she would not like me in person. Maybe I would not like her and had come all this way for nothing. We both were nervous. I was the only foreigner and was head and shoulders taller than everyone else on the ramp coming in from the planes. I saw Duralyn immediately and started walking towards her. I heard her niece asking her where I was and Dura did not reply. I was told later that they did not think it was me because I was so guapo (that’s my story and I am sticking to it!). I was amazed at seeing Duralyn in person for the first time. She was even prettier than on cam but looked smaller than the four foot eleven she had in her profile. I greeted her formally with a handshake. Dura had made it pretty clear in her country public displays of affection were not good for a woman’s reputation. I accepted that and the fact that we would be chaperoned by her family everywhere we went. I was not there for nefarious purpose so I did not mind. Her niece Charlotte was more talkative than Dura at first but I could not help but staring at her. I kept thinking what a great face-I could look at that face for the rest of my life. ...to be continued...
Posted on: Sun, 25 Aug 2013 04:21:11 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015