J is beside me, snoring and occasionally kicking my feet if I move too much. Geez. Still nice to hear his snoring...one of the ironies of an LDR? :P

I booked my visit for all of winter break so it was my first Christmas in Guatemala and then my parents and grandmother arrived the 26th December (stayed for a week) for the first meeting of the families! The families hit it off; his siblings love my parents and my parents love him and his siblings. Parents are cordial. His parents insisted on being referred to as Don and Doņa which unsettled my parents but I discussed with them the Guatemalan formalities versus US in-formalities. My parents were also worried about the emphasis his parents, particularly father, place on their interpretation of Christianity (Pentecostal while my family is Catholic) but J has a different interpretation of religion than his parents and the two of us have discussed it at length.

I'm staying in Antigua (2 hour bus ride from J's house) for the first visit in a year but I wasn't about to have my family staying in Guatemala City on their first visit to the country. I love Guatemala City but it has fluctuations in crime and being a foreigner is a bit disabling there. My parents like being independent while my grandma is drawn to spending money on pretty color items. Antigua is the center of tourism in Guatemala, therefore the perfect choice! Except the cobblestones; they aren't even and Antigua's status as a UNESCO World Heritage Site is used as an excuse not to fix them (so I've been told). My grandma had a heck of a time walking but my parents followed my orders of tennis shoes and jeans, at least!

One of J's brothers, who works throughout the region took several days to take my family bus hopping to different towns and hiking a mountain (well, Grandma didn't hike). It was wonderful and I am indebted to all of J's family for making the experience one my family wants to re-live in another visit (that coming from being hesitant to actually visit at all)! They are also totally inclusive of J now and the two days I sent him back to the capital to study for his big exam, my mom commented on how the apartment felt empty and that a part of the family was missing.

This visit has been a different experience for us both: families meeting and "permitting" that next stage for the relationship and the evolving of our relationship itself. He says I seem a bit different (not bad, just different)but we talked about how with each visit we open up with the other more and share more about ourselves. It's certainly a connecting experience to stay under the same roof with someone for a month when all sounds can be heard through the thin walls. haha Thinking further, the "different" could be I haven't been stressed on school the past few weeks! :P

I am so grateful to have the opportunity to spend time with him every four months or so. I missed my family and Christmas incredibly this year but it was good to grow with this new experience and to embrace the evolution of our relationship more. We've been able to discuss things more in-depth or that before were sidelined because they become too complicated at a distance. We discussed the role of religion as a married couple and personal scars from childhood that still affect confidence and/or mental thought-processes.

Relationships in any case are a work in progress. I am so grateful that as we advanced toward two years together, we still feel a huge love and spark toward one another and continue to grow together.