So, here's a longer-while-still-condensed update on my life since I last blogged 6 years ago. In my last post, I mentioned that I am married and that I have an iguana! Those are the two biggest ways my life has changed since the mission. (If you want to see my mission blog, it's long (think 18 months), but it's also awesome and can be accessed here.)
Here's my husband, Joseph/Joe (don't call him Joey, it doesn't fit). Isn't he so dreamy?
He's just like his last name, which is now my last name: Fabbi. (It's not FAWbee like Fabio,
but FABbee: rhymes with Grabby, Crabby, Flabby or everyone's favorite FABULOUS. Which, doesn't really rhyme, but-- it's Fab!)
He and I have been married for two years now. We've lived in three different places in Vegas and spent about 8 months in the wonderful city of Orlando, Florida. We hope to make it back there in the future because it was such a great place to live (humid air for my lungs, sunshine for my blues, the beach for my soul and Disney for my heart). But, for now, we're back in Vegas because Joe is in Law School at UNLV.
He just finished his first year and is starting his summer internship in the next couple weeks.
We have lots of fun together and one of these days, but not today, I'll share our love story and how we went from Brooke and Joseph to #Broseph. (Teaser: failed blind/triple date involving our parents!)
And then there's Marvin. Marv. Marvy-Poo. His full name is Marvin Triton Fabbi and he's just the most beautiful Blue Iguana the world has ever seen. Isn't he?
I know. I agree.
Some backstory: When I started middle school, I went to a private school. And because it was a private school, teachers could do things that they can't do in public schools. For instance, an English teacher could bring her enormous pet iguana (Shakespeare) and he would follow her around the halls like a prehistoric shadow or bask under his heat lamp in her classroom's reading nook. I fell in love. I was twelve and I was obsessed. After a couple years of swooning over/coveting Shakespeare, I begged my mom and dad to let me get my own iguana. My mom was resistant. (She's not a creature sort of person). She finally consented and said that if I could save up enough money to buy the tank, heating lamp, food, the lizard, etc, that I could get my iguana.
I was thrilled! The first thing I bought was a book all about how to keep an iguana as a pet. On the weekends, I would ask my dad to drive me to pet stores so I could just look at iguanas. I saved and saved and my money started adding up and... when my mom realized I was serious about getting this lizard, she came to me and said, "Brooke, I know I told you that if you saved up the money, you could have an iguana, but I thought you would give up and wouldn't follow through....... Even if you save up enough money, you can't get one. I just can't have one of those living in my house."
Oh, man. Me=balloon, Mom=pin, No Iguana=Shriveled Balloon. I was pretty sad.
Also, look that this awful haircut I had to endure during this whole let down ordeal! #trianglehair
Now that I have all of your sympathy, fast-forward 18 years and in comes my knight in shining armor!
Joe told me on our first date that he had worked at a reptile rescue/museum. He has freaking scars on his body from all sorts of reptiles, including iguanas, and he loves them! (Cue triumphant trumpet! Do--doo-do-doo!) Hurray!
So, for my 30th birthday six months ago, Joe made my childhood/lifelong dream come true (not the first time he's done that, see Skydiving in a future post) and he got me an iguana!!!!
And not just an iguana, but a gorgeous Blue Iguana (there are Green Iguanas, Red Iguanas, Albino Iguanas, Etc.)
And we love him so, so much. Even as much as I love Baja Blast Freezes which is A LOT. We start each morning by turning on his heat lamp and saying, "Good morning, Marvin, we love you!" And we end the day in the same way. We turn off his lamp and say, "Goodnight, Marvin, we love you!"
Everything in between is a genuine herpetologist dream.
He is a natural swimmer,
he's a phenomenal climber,
he loves carrots and green peppers,
he hates his leash, but loves being outside, when he's inside he finds anything green and runs to it (even if it's a tiny succulent!),
he's a perfect gentleman around children and strangers who want to hold him, he's naughty and eats my hair (even when I explicitly tell him not to),
and sometimes he even smiles.
I have yet to get him to cuddle with me, but we're working on it. I sneak kisses in here and there so we're making progress. It's easy to say that 12-year-old Brooke and 30-year-old Brooke are both equally obsessed.
What else, what else? I'm currently a substitute teacher, an online BYU student trying to finish my last couple classes to get my undergrad, I sometimes act, sometimes do art projects, sometimes sing, I work with the 14-15 year-old girls in my ward at church and I frequent doctors' offices baffling one after the other with my body's ability to refuse to get better (more on that later, too.)
My life is good. Even on the days when things don't go the way I want them to, it's still really good. In church this year, the adults are studying the teachings and life of my favorite prophet: Gordon B. Hinckley. One of my favorite things about him was his indomitable optimism and zest for life. He and his wife, Marjorie Pay, were just rays of sunshine personified.
In this one lesson in particular (here's a link to it) he says that when he was on his mission, he and his companion would start every morning by shaking hands and saying, "Life is good." And then going out and making that day a good one. I love that. Joe and I have sort of adopted that phrase this year as we tackle his first year of law school and some of my medical drama. When one of us seems to be starting off the day on the wrong foot, we turn to that person and say, "Life is good." And the almost-sad-but-now-happier spouse replies with an affirmative, "Yes. Life is good." And it is, my friends. It really is.
See you soon with more on me and my life (blogs really are so vain, aren't they?)!
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