I don’t want to rain on anybody’s parade. This scene from Grey’s Anatomy touched me a long time ago. Christina simply describes how it is when you lose your dad. And today was a reminder that mine is gone… I’ll never get over it. But I am thankful for all he meant and still means to me.

One of the things my husband has wanted me to do since I moved to the U.S. is build my credit. As soon as I got my permanent residence I opened a bank account, got a car and a couple of store credit cards that I barely use, but that I keep paid off. While I know that this is a country that lives of credit and applying for a credit card is less painful than a tooth extraction, I still get surprised when I obtain one. And when I receive it in the mail, I start hyperventilating because I consider credit cards the work of the devil. I’m sure nobody needs me to elaborate on that one.

My history with credit cards is not horrible, but it isn’t nice either. I got one while I was in college that my dad had to pay off because I wasn’t working, of course. And then I swore I was never going to get another one until I was responsible enough. But it turns out that “responsible enough” didn’t come with marriage. I don’t like to dig in the past or compare, but my building credit was definitely not one of my ex-husband’s suggestions. And then one day I found myself credit-cardless at Miami International Airport after Delta decided to cancel a flight. How was I supposed to get a hotel room? I did… It was just a pain in the butt. Then I got a copy of the ex’s CC and the rest became history with the divorce.

As soon as I was on my own and got a decent job, I applied for a Visa card from Desjardins in Canada and I obtained it fairly easily; it’s been paid off for months now. But I still see it, and it scares me. And now I have a MasterCard and another Visa I just got from Citi, with a decent limit (plus air miles that are greatly appreciated). I plan to leave them in my wallet collecting dust, though. I may like the idea of having them, but I still think there are evil forces behind them and they are emergency only.

Now that I’ve changed my blog theme for the 583rd time, let’s hope I will actually post something. Meeting with the St. Louis bloggers this weekend made me realize I really need to catch up if I want to continue calling myself a blogger. Will stop blaming Twitter and Facebook.

It’s been two years of adjustment, of learning, of facing odds, of having fun, of growing faith. Two years of laughter, tears, fears, dreams and planning. But most of all, it’s been two years of love and understanding. Two years of realizing that when you believe in God everything happens for a good reason. The road that brought us here may not be perfect for the world, but it’s perfect for us. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else, but here with you. Because I love you, and I will forever, until we’re old, wrinkled and trying to hit each other with a cane. Because with you I know the world is my playground and a new adventure is just around the corner.

Thank you for all you do for me, for all you allow me to do for you. Thank you for being you. God bless you today and always, and may He keep us together until death do us part.

I chose the image Inseparable, by Vladstudio, one of my favorite wallpapers sites. Amazing artist.

Mario Benedetti, a prolific Uruguayan writer whose novels and poems reflect the idiosyncrasies of Montevideo’s middle class and a social commitment forged by years in exile from a military dictatorship, died Sunday at his house in Montevideo, his secretary said. He was 88.

Called “Don Mario” by his friends, the mustachioed author penned more than 60 novels, poems, short stories and plays, winning honors including Bulgaria’s Jristo Borev award for poetry and essays in 1985, and Amnesty International’s Golden Flame in 1986. In 1999 he won the Queen Sofia prize for Iberoamerican poetry (Associated Press).