Wendi Lou Lee

So we get home from drop off and we have about 4 hours to get ready plenty of time right? Yes I have a list … yes it is kinda long but 4 hours should be plenty of time. We get right to it… bills to pay, money to be transferred, last minute calls to make and texts to answer, pack, shower and snacks, oh yea and finish that post from last night… I just have to read it over one more time to check for spelling and grammar. The time is flying but my list is getting shorter too, our goal… leave the house at 1pm head to Josh’s parents so we can see Kate on our way out.  She is driving from the San Diego area right now. Josh heads to the gym for a swim and I just keep plugging away I think it can all happen. He returns and I’m still at the desk, he’s laughing at me.

So I get pushed to the shower and pack, I feel like I’m packing for when the kids were born but this is slightly different … I have to decide what I’m wearing tonight for our date in Santa Barbara!  I’m trying not to forget anything and then I think I’m ready… It’s almost 2pm totally fine, we can’t check in to our hotel until 3 anyways.  The only thing left to do is eat lunch and pack the car, I kinda start to slow-down because Kate hit traffic and she hasn’t arrived yet.  If I have learned anything over these last few months, it’s that people are more important than anything … above all being a few minutes or even hours later than you wanted. There’s this little knock and the original Lee family strolls in with hugs …  Peter, Joette and Kate. They are so good to me and love me so well. I feel so lucky and blessed to have married Joshua Lee, but then to have acquired his wonderful family is almost more than my heart can take.

We pack it all up and get in the car, it is 3:30pm, not too shabby!  We may even make it to see the sunset is my reply as Josh is kinda bummed… he was hoping we might have some time to relax before dinner tonight.  But it is all working out perfectly and everything is relaxed and peaceful. Music is on in the car, the playlist Josh made for me titled … A Journey Of Trust, first song Anchor by Bethel Music is playing – thanks Jen Tompkins for the inspiration to add it to my list, my new favorite!

The trip goes fast, the ocean water on my right is so blue and I’m still adding contacts in my phone of doctors and nurses and last texts to my dear friends. We pull in to this hotel near West Beach in Santa Barbara, just a few block from where we will have dinner tonight and there’s the sunset and the people out running on the boardwalk and this huge cruise ship in the harbor, it looks like an office building on the water. Josh checks in at the Milo Hotel, this beautiful spot that our dear friend Jenn from Sports Warehouse found for us and I just sit in the car. When he returns the sun is slipping, so we head for the pier to catch a glimpse before it’s gone. Pictures and hand-holding completed, we haul all the stuff up to the room, well Josh does, he won’t let me carry anything except my purse. I definitely married a gentleman … his parents trained him well.  Just three weeks ago it was our anniversary and I was in the pit, so tonight will be our take 2, I’m just so excited for the night.

We couldn’t get reservations until 7:45pm for Toma and good thing because I still hadn’t gotten my nap and I knew I was going to need it. So I settled into bed, Josh worried about the bathroom light on and the noise of him shaving his head with his clippers. Doesn’t he know me? I can sleep through pretty much anything. At about 7pm he woke me and I panicked… I had slept so hard I thought it was 7am and we had missed our whole night together, my thought I’m going to be so hungry!! It still took me a few minutes to get it right in my head… I do have a brain tumor folks, it’s all not working perfectly up there.

He’s laughing again, something about losing my marbles. I have 25 minutes to be ready, no problem this girl is not high maintenance! A quick rinse off, a little heat on the hair and no fuss makeup…one black retro dress and wedge heels and we were ready. Only problem I realize I forget one thing… My toothbrush! Now most would say no worries just use your husbands right? In the 16 years we have been married I have never used his toothbrush… You see my husband, my love … is what you would call sanitary, he doesn’t share germs willingly with people at all. I have never met a man that is such a germ-aphobe.  We have baby wipes everywhere and he is always washing his hands and asking the kids, “Did you wash up.” So I look at him with these puppy eyes and say ” Can I please use your toothbrush?” He eyes get kinda wide and I’m thinking ….you make out with me, what’s the big deal?  So of course he says yes and I assure him to pick up a few new ones tomorrow as I brush my pearly whites. He does inspect the toothbrush as he puts it back in his overnight bag… I think maybe a fleck of a nut got stuck.

My shoes are on and I load up my purse, that doesn’t go with my dress. It’s that satchel bag I always have with me, totally bad fashion statement I’m willing to sport because there is no way I can carry all my meds, lip gloss and phone. So he takes my purse, swings it over his chest like a man bag and we start the 3 minute walk to Toma. Josh… man-bag, this is not a Mr. Lee move, but he just goes with it and quite frankly he looks pretty hip. It didn’t draw any attention at all, he never would want that!

When we get there it’s packed and I’m starving! I’m so glad we have reservations, but the couple still there is taking their time and we have to wait. We head back outside because it’s crowded and loud and I don’t think a drink the night before brain surgery sounds like a good idea, not to mention I’m so hungry I don’t think I’d be able to stand up if I did.  We scope out the menu and talk about how this is just practicing patience, why are we always in such a hurry even when it’s date night and we have no where else to be, nothing else to do.  It does take a little while and the manager evens comes out to apologize, I’m like totally fine with it, not frazzled in the least, this place has got to be good with the aroma we have been smelling for the last 20 minutes!

Our table is ready, perfect table along the wall in the corner so that I can hear better, I think the slow couple is still across the restaurant, in a middle table, drinking their coffee. We know what we want by now so this is easy.  We are not use to dining like this, so fancy, so expensive…we are pretty thrifty diners …we like really good food but we live with the price-tag in check. But tonight, this was all on our good friends Bill and Norma Brown, super-close friends of Pete and Joette, who just wanted to bless us with a wonderful dinner. We ordered and it all began, these wonderful plates of salad and chicken with mushroom risotto and the cod special for Josh. We reached forks across the table and tried everything on all the plates. My mouth was having this most amazing party, honestly the most delicious food I have ever experienced. We talked and talked and it was this deep talk that doesn’t always happen on a normal date. Fears about tomorrow, was there anyone you didn’t get to talk to that you wanted to, our incredible families, friends who have shaped us to be able to endure this journey and some friends who have slipped away.

I looked at him and I just couldn’t believe that me… Wendi Lou Lee has this man in my life, this precious gift from God to walk this journey with. My soul was just so full, like it might burst with joy. We ended the night with dessert, because why not right? Sorbet and strawberries, his fav the lemon, mine the mango. No chocolate you ask? Well no gluten free options with chocolate … so we improvised!!  We walk our short minutes back, ready for a night of rest. This night has been the best anniversary celebration of our marriage, I am so blessed!  Here’s to 16 years babe!