Saturday, April 6, 2013: Hi Beautiful! I am sitting in Adriana Coronel Tenorio’s (AKA Adriana Howitt Coronel, Ari Coronel, Ari Coronel Tenorio, Ari Howitt, Ari Howitt Coronel)/Isaias Palomeque (AKA Isaias Uzziel Palomeque, Isaias Palomeque Vergara, Project Manager at DJO Global) living room with all the furniture her and Maria Guadalupe Tenorio Toledano (AKA Lupita Tenorio, Marsha Tenorio) had stolen from me. No not Danny Howitt’s (AKA Daniel Duncan Howitt, Elizabeth Farquhar Duncan, Kenneth Duncan) house, Palomeque’s house. Howitt is not smart enough to realize he’s been played, where as Palomeque does not care. Its 10:30 and you are not here. Everyone knows you are supposed to be ready by 10:00, with the exception of ballet. There is no ballet today. According to Axel Alvarez Coronel (AKA Axel Coronel), clearly our of spite, Maria Guadalupe decided to take you to the store. I can only guess that this is part of the “guarding” measures Adriana has put in place for Saturdays. So here I wait…
Its 11:30 and you finally made it back home. Just like Axel said, you were at the store. We pick where we left off last week with being relegated to the living room and back patio area. There is only so much you can do with Lollaloopsy’s right? I sat back and took in your creativity Sam. Its adorable to see your creative side come out. It’s sad in other ways because this is what we have to do under the circumstances. I did catch Maria Guadalupe in another lie from earlier in the week. I have long suspected that everyone in that house has been instructed to not let you talk to me on the phone. Now I have the proof. You have no way of knowing this, but I do call you every day. The times vary: before school, after school, before bed, etc. This week you have been on spring break so getting a hold of you on the phone should not be an issue right? Wrong. One time in particular, Maria Guadalupe told me you were at dance class. So, when I asked you how dance class was going, you told me there was no dance classes this week because of spring break. Thank you for helping me confirm what I already knew Sam!
After a couple hours you mentioned that you wanted to go to Mini City. I have never heard of it, but anything that gets us out of that house I am all for. Maria Guadalupe was trying to deter you from Mini City and go to Peter Piper instead. One, because it’s closer. And two, because it’s smaller and a much easier environment to control. She never said #2 but then again she didn’t have to. It was already written on her face. After all this time, they still have not figured out that this is my time, not theirs. You stuck to your guns Sam and off to Mini City we went.
Before Mini City, we took a quick detour to the salon to trim your hair. I remember when Adriana was worried you were never going to grow hair. Now it’s grown most of the way down your back. You absolutely loved the TLC.
It turns out we have something very similar to Mini City here as well. It’s called Pretend City. I think the concept is ordained. It really is a mini city: fire and police departments, radio and TV stations, gas company, gas station, car wash, beauty salon, etc. You have two choices. You can play the games which costs you money or you can take on jobs which earn you points for various toys. You took on jobs. First the car wash, then the gas station, then recycling, then the pharmacy and then you became a police officer. In between you did manage to spend some time as an artist, drawing a bird flying in front of the sun. This was the one time where nobody seemed to mind me taking pictures. Then again what was Maria Guadalupe going to do? We could spend all day there. And given the chance, that exactly what we are going to do.
As most of these places do, all roads lead to the gift shop. There was a brightly colored slinky that caught your eye. I could not say no Sam. You have never seen a slinky in motion before. You wanted to use it as jewelry. Sure, you could do that. Wait until you see the slinky walking down objects – namely stairs. It will work on hills too. Anything that has a downward slope. You were completely enamored with it. The smile on your face was priceless. It was heartbreaking to come off such a good time seeing you laugh, play and learn all at the same time as Maria Guadalupe was clock watching. Boldly reminding everyone within an earshot it was time to leave. You love Mini City and I can see why. You were beaming in the car, until you saw the border crossing. Neither one of us has gotten used to this Sam. It still takes that time in line plus the drive home to decompress. I have some things planned for the next couple months. I will explain soon. I LOVE YOU SAM!
