My Nunny 2: Stop and Smell the Lavender

Monday, November 3, 2008

Stop and Smell the Lavender

Raul's Republican Friend

WE finally managed to get away even if it was just overnight. I emphasise the "WE" as Raul is away all the time, hence the name "The Happy Little Wanderer". Saturday we drove the Corvette up to Ojai and stayed at a quaint little B & B called the Lavender Inn. We even stayed in the Lavender Room. Didn't realize how much I really needed to just relax. Our room had a cute little patio that overlooked the backyard with a beautiful view of the mountains. Perfect weekend-even if it did rain a bit. To top it off, Raul went into several stores with me and didn't complain one bit! For those of you who know him this is no small task. Even better, he marked antique stores on the map, and actually went to them. Sunday we drove into the Angeles National Forrest and then stopped on the way home to see my "sister" Angi and her kids. He's right, we do need to do this more often. I get so caught up in what has to be done that I forget to relax and enjoy.

Debbie & Raul

We met at Calle Mayor Middle School at the end of Dean’s 8th grade year. On the last day of school, Dean and a friend were playing around and Raul, being the observant man that he is, asked which kid was mine, which is a reasonable question unless of course you had seen the other child! My reply was, “Oh I can tell you are a highly trained detective being you felt compelled to ask that question”. However, there was something about him that caught my attention, despite his highly trained eye. We didn’t see eachother until September when he was assigned as the Resource Officer for the south end. He was teaching classes for the DARE program and the kids in my class obviously needed to attend. I volunteered to be the one to take them, and of course needed to stay with them to make sure they behaved! Well one thing lead to another and the next thing I knew he invited me to go jet skiing at the river with a bunch of friends. I loved it immediately and I think he was impressed that I got on and never looked back. We dated for over a year when he asked me to marry him, by having me arrested for a unpaid seatbelt ticket (I’ll tell the entire story later).