On Mexico, Falling in Love, and Missionary Memories

Eleven years ago this week, I took a walk, accepted a date invitation, and got engaged to a nice guy I call Mike. Today I'm celebrating the anniversary of this life-changing period by sharing 11 memories that have taken place since then. All happened right here - in the country south of the United States, in Mexico, the place I've called home since 2000.

(quick interlude: many of you know my story. For those who don't, I came to Mexico as a volunteer, met Mike the missionary, liked him so much I married him, and we've spent our entire marriage here in Mexico).

Okay, on with the list:

January 2002: Mike and I trek through the jungle to scale the ancient ruins of Palenque. This mystical place so enchants me that to this day, part of what I saw remains in my memory as almost a surreal experience.

July 2002: we go to an ice cream fair in Mexico City. Mike eagerly tries flavors ranging from pinto bean to avocado to lettuce and - one of his favorites - corn.

November 2003: we move from Mexico City to Torreon. I gradually grow to appreciate the beauty of the desert landscape, a dry climate, and being far from everything. But the gorditas - ah the gorditas! One bite and I decide I could live here forever.

February 2006: I graduate from college (and pat myself on the back - only took me eight years!) and Mike takes me to Zacatecas to celebrate. We stay in a hotel that was once a bullfighting stadium but now has geraniums, rather than horns, gracing its interior.

February 2007: first child - a girl! - is born. Mike and I squeal with delight, marvel at the miracle of life, and get her ears pierced before she's 24 hours old.

May 2008: we take a family vacation to Cancun, a first for both Mike and me. We see why it draws huge crowds, thoroughly relax, and take pictures of our toddler by her first pyramid.

November 2008: another girl! This one cries more than the first, doesn't sleep as well, and makes me feel like I'm going a little batty with two kids under the age of two. But her hair - her sweet, fuzzy, crazy wild hair - makes up for the fussies. And her ears: pierced upon birth, of course.

April 2010: we move to Leon, a bustling city known for its leather. For my birthday, Mike takes me to the leather district and I inform (warn?) him that my shoe and purse collection will be growing in the near future.

July 2011: our first son arrives. Mike accuses me of falling for another man, but how could I not? He is actually Mike, in size miniature. I look at him and wonder, just how did I end up having three kids in Mexico?

October 2011: we go out for brunch as a family at one of Mexico's popular chain restaurants. The middle child sees molletes on the menu (bread with beans and white cheese) and orders it immediately. The older girl asks for American-style eggs. We talk in English until the girls start reciting some of the new finger plays they've learned at school, upon which they switch - midstream - to Spanish.

October 25, 2011: I sit down to write this and wonder if other missionaries have become so fiercely attached to a country after living there for a decade-plus. I think we often look at mission life as one of "living out there" as a foreigner - which is true, of course - but we don't usually think about how as time passes in one place, we grow as a family, rack up experiences, and build memories that become not just part of our past, but a defining point of our future as well.