Mathis Time Begins - by Christopher

We left from Xativa Spain on a 9 hour cross-country train trip to Montpelier. It was a long day of travel but we still managed to pose and look friendly for photos.

Our plan was to jump on another train in Montpelier and scoot over to Avignon, where the Mathis parental units were going to pick us up. But when we arrived, there was no train to Avignon. The online world of train schedules didn't match the real world of French trains. We were not pleased.

We walked across the street to a rat trap hotel, threw down our stuff and tried to walk around the town to salvage our unplanned detour. I was immediately accosted by some guy who followed me and shouted questions like "Do you speak English?" over and over again.

We settled into the first pizza joint we could find and I tried my best to console my crying wife for about an hour. I didn't find much success. A critical observer might even comment that my efforts were only making the situation worse.

We finally resigned ourselves to falling asleep in our overpriced hole-in-the-wall. Sometimes you just have to cut your losses.



But by the next day everything was alright! After a short and uneventful train trip we met up with the Mathis folks and there was much celebration. We took a tour of Avignon together for a couple of hours and enjoyed much laughter and merriment.



We took in the sights and tried our best not to be blown over by the seasonal winds called the Mistral. I would estimate that we were walking against 30 to 40 mph gusts at times during our walk. It made for a lot of yelling and carrying on. Well, by Tim and I anyway. But the sights were neat.



The good times kept rolling as we took the short trip to Isle Sur De Sorgue, a little town between our accomodations and Avignon.



The town was full of fun little shops and beautiful river views. That day just also happened to be the 'day of music' and we enjoyed the sights and sounds as dozens of musical acts took to the streets all over town.



Tim soon displayed his ingenious method of French communication; in this case, a slip of paper with helpful phrases written on it that he could simply flash at waiters to request tap water. It produced the same result each time. Laughter and a large pitcher of tap water. Does this man know how to travel or what?



We finished off the evening with dinner in a town near our rental house named Forcalquier. In keeping with the 'day of music' event, this town was also inundated with musical acts wherever we looked. In fact this town had adopted an entirely American theme for the night.

In the square that our restaurant faced, a country and western band took the stage and played convincingly authentic George Strait and Alan Jackson covers. We watched and listened in awe as the surreal event unfolded. We had traveled thousands of miles to watch French townies line dance. It was disorienting to say the least.

The band was actually incredibly good and authentic! If I didn't know where I was I would have guessed these good old boys hailed from Austin. Until they bantered with the crowd in French between Garth Brooks songs. Too weird!

We finally drove to the house (which is located out in the country near a little village called Ongles) in the pitch dark. The night sky is exactly what I've been looking for on this trip: bright, pearlescent stars as far as the eye can see. This place is the very definition of a 'country house.'

Each night we go to sleep with our bedroom window open and a dozen brilliant stars winking at us as we drift off. In my opinion, it can't be beat.

Year One Down

If you would have asked me a year ago what I would be doing on my one year wedding anniversary I would have predicted I would be laying on a beach somewhere, a cold pina colada in my hand, with not a care in the world; with Chris there too of course.

When we decided to leave Turkey and tour Europe, I became even further convinced that I would be spending the night of the 21st at some posh hotel and splurging on a great dinner and waking up to the sound of crashing waves.

Then about a month ago, things got a little more complicated with finances and schedules and I just said "fine, as long as we're alone together and not travelling that day, cause travel is stressful and I at least want to be relaxed that day."

And then from there things just got silly.

Out of money, out of patience and out of any feeling of obligation to have any sort of "traditional" anniversary celebration, we made a new plan. One that flew in the face of all my earlier wishes or predictions - a roach motel, a long travel day, and the least private anniversary I could imagine - a shared house with my mommy and daddy.

We set out on the 20th for a 9 hour plane ride from Xativa in the south of Spain, to Montpellier in the South of France.

At this juncture we were supposed to get off the train and connect with another train to Avignon where our hotel was already booked.

But how appropriate, we arrived in Montpellier and there was no train.

So...we found the closest hotel and rolled our bags there. The guy working the desk, Pop, from Senegal, showed me the room and I nearly cried. I couldn't believe I was going to be waking up on my anniversary in this dump.

Here's the bathroom. The door slides across, except only when there isn't anyone inside. Nothing says "Happy 1st Anniversary" like going number 2 with the door open and your spouse lying on the bed with a pillow over their head.

You would think that love would be stronger than a bad hotel room and 84 days of travel, but sometimes folks, it's just not.

We went to bed not talking and I slept horribly.  Loud, rattling A/C unit, an automatic room sanitizer squirting a horrible smell out every 15 minutes (I yanked the batteries out at about 2 am and threw them on the floor), a brown hole in the ceiling that I'm pretty sure something resided in...it was less than ideal.

But in the morning we made the decision to get along and celebrate as best we could.

We took the 9 am train to Avignon.  We had a train car all to ourselves and actually managed to laugh a bit.

We read my journal from a year ago and found some of those old feelings of infatuation and new love creeping back.  

We left the train and made our way to the hotel we were supposed to have stayed at...and then...the Mathis people picked us up!

What fun to see them.  My mom and I had a hug straight from a movie - twirling around and laughing.

I think we all laughed continually for about 40 minutes.  

We toured Avignon and the nearby town of L'Isle-Sur-La-Sorgue.

Mom and Dad even bought us a little French anniversary gift to take back home.

When you see this heart-shaped candle holder on our coffee table you'll know right where it came from.

Look, anniversary's don't make days perfect.  You can't time when you're going to get along.  But I think our anniversary was pretty representative of our first year of marriage; it hasn't been easy, but we're committed to making the best we can out of the rough times.  And we always come out laughing.

Once we got to the rental house we watched our wedding DVD and listened to the ceremony sermon again.  "Listen, laugh, learn, labor, and love..." a good reminder of what we're suppose to be doing here.

It was wonderful to see all our friends and family and feel the first moments of our marriage happening all over again.

Since it's the year of paper, we wrote each other letters and read them to each other.

Then it was a kiss and a hug and off to bed.

Further proof that it's not where you are on special days, but who you're with and what you make of it.  "Bloom where you are planted" my mom would say.  And bloom we did.

Look Who's Here Now!!

Happy Father's Day

On this Father's Day we're both thinking of the good times we've had with our respective Dads. My memories are very fresh since my Dad just headed back home from the time he spent with me in Spain. The good times are about to roll with Dad and Mom Mathis over the next twelve days and I'm looking forward to meeting this 'travel Tim' that I keep hearing so much about. He sounds like a really interesting guy.

I hope my Dad will make his way to the local golf course and have himself a wicked round. And I hope that Tim comes to pick us up in Avignon in a few hours. These are my hopes.

Happy Father's Day Dads. We love you very much and appreciate all you do for us.