Mandylio’s Valley Below

2002

I remember that early in the year, like first week of January, we flew to the US again, for a belated Christmas there. I am sure that the flight was as eventful as it always was, so I don’t remember anything from that. I am sure we visited family a lot, got Christmas presents and stuff which is of course always fun! We arranged with Laura’s brother that he would drive us to a mall in Des Moines. He had his son Cory with him, who was still a baby then. I bet Laura was happy to be with a baby she could take care of. I am sure Laura’s brother wasn’t really going to do that if she was there anyways. I remember that we had the big white car, and first we drove to New Hartfort and picked him up there. he then drove us to Des Moines. I immediately became annoyed at his driving speed! He wasn’t really speeding, but the road was covered in snow. It was fairly cold, and if there had been an animal or a kid crossing the road, we had no chance of missing it. The road was like that all the way to the highway, which was really far if your driving around on snow/ice. He showed us the house he and Laura used to live in when they lived in Des Moines temporarily. This was not a big event for us, but for her brother, i will come to that later. We finally found the mall we were looking for , and it was fun there, but Laura’s brother got a phone call from someone ….. That someone told him she was pregnant again… Britney. Jessica, Christian, Cory and now another one? He couldn’t even decently afford one child, and now he was going to have a 5th one. I remember that he wasn’t really excited on the phone, but I am sure his lovely Jennifer was. Another baby, her year was good again! I remember that Laura was slightly miffed about it. I mean, here you have a trailer trash like woman, who shouldn’t be breathing at all, and SHE got pregnant , putting another helpless kid in this world? A kid that deserves a decent education and that deserves to be loved by both parents? Jennifer’s biggest hobby always seemed yelling at Laura’s brother , or yelling at the kids she already had. Anyways, she’s a real piece of trailer trash who really think that she’s better than everyone else, especially Laura’s family. Enough about her, my stomach is acting up! I don’t think there’s much to report else from that vacation? I think we attended the birthday parties for the girls, and it was with Jennifer’s family as well, so I got to enjoy them some more !

I am sure that our trip home came with the usual unnecessary stress caused by the airlines and attitude problems of their personnel At home , it was getting back to our usual things again. Me going to work, Laura staying at home in the attic. It must have been boring for her there! Most people she knew were in the US, and they were never online at the time she was, because of the time difference obviously. Then in April the horror of school started, and she had to go 4 days a week to dutch classes. She had to use the bicycle, no matter what weather, and it was outside town, so she got a good start in adjusting to living here, since so many people uses bicycles here to go everywhere . I remember many instances where I got phone calls or messages at work about school and what happened there, so I am sure that she didn’t have a great time there! She did get along with a number of people! This lady from Brazil who was a teacher there she got along with, but I think at some point she went to an advanced class. I received some stress from this education as well, and one time I got so angry that I took the dog and went for a long walk. In my mind I was just sending her back alone to the US, where I would notify authorities here that we split up, and then I would have her flown back to the Netherlands again. I Don’t see anymore how that would have helped our situation, but I am sure I did when that time was there. In July – August, I decided that it was time for her to have a vacation from us, and she got on a trip to the US by herself. It turned out to be a troublesome vacation. All we did was seem to be sitting behind the computer and chatting to each other. We could have done that here as well I guess we just missed each other too much? It was 2 weeks, but it were two long weeks! Then finally when she came back, cycle wise it was the last possible day to get pregnant, and somehow the planets aligned and we managed! Laura knew it quite early that she was pregnant, the signs started very early. Morning sickness was really bad and she couldn’t stand any smells. I remember driving in the car and she would always get sick in the car too. One time we stopped at a gas station in Belgium (Back then the gas price was just 99 cents there, compared to the 1.42 that it’s currently at) and after I got gas, we drove a little, and she yelled stop, opened the door and puked One time she even managed to puke while we were having a nice dinner of Lasagna (I think?) at my parents place. We had like 4 visits to the OB in the last part of the year, and we had a rd ultrasound done as well. I don’t remember where anymore, but I am guessing Gouda? It’s was like a 2 hour drive, because no one did that yet locally.. At the end of the year we also fired our OB because he said that there was 0% chance of him delivering the baby, so why should we come to him then? I arranged a midwife in a nearby town, and we started going there!

2002

I remember that early in the year, like first week of January, we flew to the US again, for a belated Christmas there. I am sure that the flight was as eventful as it always was, so I don’t remember anything from that. I am sure we visited family a lot, got Christmas presents and stuff which is of course always fun! We arranged with Laura’s brother that he would drive us to a mall in Des Moines. He had his son Cory with him, who was still a baby then. I bet Laura was happy to be with a baby she could take care of. I am sure Laura’s brother wasn’t really going to do that if she was there anyways. I remember that we had the big white car, and first we drove to New Hartfort and picked him up there. he then drove us to Des Moines. I immediately became annoyed at his driving speed! He wasn’t really speeding, but the road was covered in snow. It was fairly cold, and if there had been an animal or a kid crossing the road, we had no chance of missing it. The road was like that all the way to the highway, which was really far if your driving around on snow/ice. He showed us the house he and Laura used to live in when they lived in Des Moines temporarily. This was not a big event for us, but for her brother, i will come to that later. We finally found the mall we were looking for , and it was fun there, but Laura’s brother got a phone call from someone ….. That someone told him she was pregnant again… Britney. Jessica, Christian, Cory and now another one? He couldn’t even decently afford one child, and now he was going to have a 5th one. I remember that he wasn’t really excited on the phone, but I am sure his lovely Jennifer was. Another baby, her year was good again! I remember that Laura was slightly miffed about it. I mean, here you have a trailer trash like woman, who shouldn’t be breathing at all, and SHE got pregnant , putting another helpless kid in this world? A kid that deserves a decent education and that deserves to be loved by both parents? Jennifer’s biggest hobby always seemed yelling at Laura’s brother , or yelling at the kids she already had. Anyways, she’s a real piece of trailer trash who really think that she’s better than everyone else, especially Laura’s family. Enough about her, my stomach is acting up! I don’t think there’s much to report else from that vacation? I think we attended the birthday parties for the girls, and it was with Jennifer’s family as well, so I got to enjoy them some more !

I am sure that our trip home came with the usual unnecessary stress caused by the airlines and attitude problems of their personnel At home , it was getting back to our usual things again. Me going to work, Laura staying at home in the attic. It must have been boring for her there! Most people she knew were in the US, and they were never online at the time she was, because of the time difference obviously. Then in April the horror of school started, and she had to go 4 days a week to dutch classes. She had to use the bicycle, no matter what weather, and it was outside town, so she got a good start in adjusting to living here, since so many people uses bicycles here to go everywhere . I remember many instances where I got phone calls or messages at work about school and what happened there, so I am sure that she didn’t have a great time there! She did get along with a number of people! This lady from Brazil who was a teacher there she got along with, but I think at some point she went to an advanced class. I received some stress from this education as well, and one time I got so angry that I took the dog and went for a long walk. In my mind I was just sending her back alone to the US, where I would notify authorities here that we split up, and then I would have her flown back to the Netherlands again. I Don’t see anymore how that would have helped our situation, but I am sure I did when that time was there. In July – August, I decided that it was time for her to have a vacation from us, and she got on a trip to the US by herself. It turned out to be a troublesome vacation. All we did was seem to be sitting behind the computer and chatting to each other. We could have done that here as well I guess we just missed each other too much? It was 2 weeks, but it were two long weeks! Then finally when she came back, cycle wise it was the last possible day to get pregnant, and somehow the planets aligned and we managed! Laura knew it quite early that she was pregnant, the signs started very early. Morning sickness was really bad and she couldn’t stand any smells. I remember driving in the car and she would always get sick in the car too. One time we stopped at a gas station in Belgium (Back then the gas price was just 99 cents there, compared to the 1.42 that it’s currently at) and after I got gas, we drove a little, and she yelled stop, opened the door and puked One time she even managed to puke while we were having a nice dinner of Lasagna (I think?) at my parents place. We had like 4 visits to the OB in the last part of the year, and we had a rd ultrasound done as well. I don’t remember where anymore, but I am guessing Gouda? It’s was like a 2 hour drive, because no one did that yet locally.. At the end of the year we also fired our OB because he said that there was 0% chance of him delivering the baby, so why should we come to him then? I arranged a midwife in a nearby town, and we started going there!