Cheesecake Factory

The Clematis I planted last year.

The new flowerbed.

Hi All!

I am going to the Cheese Cake Factory for dinner! Yeah! If you have never eaten at a Cheesecake Factory (Is that two or three words anyway??), you are really missing out! It is a chain with super food and heavenly cheesecake! My personal favorite is the pumpkin but, they only carry that flavor around Thanksgiving so I don't get it too often. In fact, the last time I went to the restaurant around Thanksgiving (it was a week after the holiday) they were OUT of the pumpkin!!! The menu said they carried it until the beginning of the year - they lied! Oh well - I forgive them because the peanut butter truffle cheesecake is good too.

My anger from yesterday - which was totally not like me - is pretty much gone. It helped that I worked on a new flowerbed pretty much all afternoon. Our soil is made up primarily of clay so it is tough to dig and then has to be mixed with soil to make things grow. That took a lot of energy and helped with whatever frustrations I was feeling. By the time my husband came home, I felt much better. It also helped that he made dinner (stuffed shells, green beans, and french bread baked with the shells) and suggested Cheesecake Factory for tonight! I have a wonderful husband -have I mentioned that?

When I was going through the initial stages of SD - having absolutely no voice and not knowing why, going to all of the doctors and therapists and having cameras threaded down my nose, all of that FUN stuff - I was a little nervous about how my hubby would react. After all, he married a woman who LOVED to talk and who was very social. In fact, when we went to HIS work events, I was the one who did most of the talking - not him! I did a fair share of public speaking and loved meeting new people. Then, suddenly, I couldn't do any of that. I couldn't talk at all, let alone in social situations which were a bit noisy! I couldn't talk on the phone at all.

My husband found himself thrust into the position of the family spokesman. He had to do all of the talking - from ordering for me in restaurants to making doctor's appointments on the phone. For a man who is pretty shy - this had to have been terrifying and difficult. This was NOT what he "signed on for" when he married me!

While he stepped up very admirably and even came out of his shell a bit, he wasn't always too happy about things. One night when we were in bed - one of the few places we could really talk because we were close together and it was quite - he told me how angry he was that I was changing our life. I was devastated! I was sure he would leave me.

Luckily, he didn't and he has adjusted fairly well to the whole "non-talking wife" issue. He has heard his share of the "You have what every man wishes for - a silent wife." jokes and has been frustrated with trying to talk to me in Wal Mart - which is very noisy! He has gotten used to me wearing a microphone around and doing all kinds of weird sounding vocal exercises. Lately, he has even accepted the fact that this is an incurable disorder and that I will struggle with it for the rest of my life.

All of this on top of the fact that he cleans and cooks (not ALL the time on the cooking but he does cook two times a week when I am at class) and takes care of the cats and takes care of me! I love my husband and thank God everyday that I have him.

Now if he would clean up the rest of the garage . . .

Trisha