My, my, my....How time does fly

[Hoda]

Hey Fam,

Hope this post finds you & yours in the best of health & spirits. Sometimes it's hard to fathom that the first time I laid eyes on my wife was on this forum back in early 1999.....1999?!?!? YIKES!!!! We're still going strong through good times & bad. Would go through the whole thing again to be with my wife...well, maybe I would change a thing or two...but I would still want to be with my wife Will try to touch base with y'all more often. I took a quick view over the forum post just to see that some things have changed & sadly how some things haven't...lol

Talk to y'all soon....Hoda

[V_Man]

I would love to learn from your experience of married life. For us relative newbies, could you please tell us where you are from and where your wife is from. I would love to know what you would have done differently with the benefit of hindsight.

[InnocentVixen]

it's always nice to hear about good solid marriages out there, will look forward to your posts

[michaelb]

Well, good to hear from you, glad to see that you and the family are doing well.

[Kiltboy1]

Great to see you back Hoda.
Glad all is going great with your family. Don't be a stranger.
 
KB

[dtibbet]

great to have you back. yes would love to hear your experiences . thanks for offering t share.

[Hoda]

I would love to learn from your experience of married life. For us relative newbies, could you please tell us where you are from and where your wife is from. I would love to know what you would have done differently with the benefit of hindsight.

I share many of the same experiences in marriage to a foreign born bride, that others here have & continue to go through. The search/hunt in "finding & being found by love" can be both exciting & frustrating. My courtship lasted about 3 years before marriage. My lady is from Cali, Colombia; the photo displayed is our son when he was somewhere between 1 or 2 yrs old. Keeping it real.....marriage can be difficult & wonderful. The most important thing that I wish, I could have done differently in hindsight....was to get married a little earlier. Reason being is that there were family members that have past on before they could meet my wife. I can only imagine my parents & other relatives telling stories about me growing & showing those pictures I thought were gone forever  . Another thing I would have done a little differently is to not just learn the language, but to better understand the culture. There are those little cultural nuances that both parties need to learn about each other that can help one avoid unnecessary drama...

Take care.....Hoda

[V_Man]

Thanks Hoda.
Your comments have given me much to think about. My own father is no spring chicken and neither is hers.
I have so much to learn about the culture it is not funny. I have some great contacts so I have learnt a lot more than other guys in my situation. However I firmly believe it is impossible to really learn the culture and the mindset of the people unless you live there. I have lived in other cultures before and the difference between being a regular visitor versus living and working in a country could not my over stated IMHO.

One thing that I feel I really lack comes from me not being a catholic. There are so many things that go straight over my head. For example I received a blessing at the end of my very first visit, but the signficance of that blessing did not become apparent to me until many months and another visit later. 

[MariaJBueno]

Kudos to you my man!!