It looks like the next 5 weeks are going to be a flurry of activity in our house. Between me finishing up my last two classes in preparation for graduating, DH coming home and preparing to re-deploy, trying to weed out the items we are going to put into storage and what we will give away/sell, actually MOVING stuff into storage and trying to spend some quality time with DH, life is going to be hectic to say the least. And we all know how quickly time goes when you are having fun! I suppose I should be making a list, or two, of stuff that needs to be done.
I've also started to put in time off requests at work. There isn't one week during the month of May when I will work a full 5 day week. Seriously! This trend acutally starts Easter weekend. My son's day care is closed on Good Friday so we are heading to visit my grandmother for the weekend. DH will be joining us since he's only a couple hours away. This will be a short but fun visit - at least until we have to let my family know that DH is being deployed. They don't know yet. I worry that my grandmother will take it hard. She's very emotional about these kinds of things. Hmmmm...think it might be genetic?
Anyway, I just hope I can find time to get my last two papers done! That's going to be my focus the next two weeks. After that it's all down hill.
Friday, March 31, 2006
Thursday, March 30, 2006
No Monkeys in this barrel
My husband is an amazing man. Sure, I know what you are thinking - of course you think he's amazing you married the guy. And you would be right.
But beyond all the "normal" reasons, I think he's amazing because he is willing to anything for me and our son, even risk the perils of war.
You see, he's a proud member of the National Guard. For the last three years he's been on activation, meaning he's been on active duty full time. The first year was relatively easy because he was only stationed a few hundred miles from home. At least he could come home on weekends! And that is the year, miracle of miracles, we got pregnant. I was so lucky he was able to be home when the baby came. Many fathers are not able to be there.
His second mission has taken place over the last year. He's been stationed in the next state over, not terribly far away but further than before. He'd barely come off the first mission when he was sent away again. I know it's been hard for him being away from our son for so long. I can hear it in his voice when he calls to say good night. I can see it in his face when we drop him off at the airport after his "weekend" visits every three weeks. But again, we are lucky because we can still see him every three weeks.
This mission will be over in about 4 weeks. But yet again he is being called upon to leave his family and serve his country - this time overseas. He'll be gone for a year. This time there will be no weekend visits and no goodnight phone calls every night. He will lose almost a whole year with our son. Sure, there will be a quick visit before he actually leaves the country, and a quick 2 week R&R after the first of the year but how do you cram a whole year of your young child's life into 4 weeks? This is weighing heavily on my DH. I hear it in his voice when he calls.
So, how can this possibly be good for our family? Financially it will put us in a place where we can start fresh when he comes home. He is sacrificing this time so that he won't have to work two jobs to help support our family. You see in his "other" life my DH is a Corrections Officer. And despite the importance, and danger, inherent in that job the pay is (in a word) lousy. Fewer bills means he can look for a job he really WANTS when he gets back, instead of having to settle for what he left behind 3 years ago.
And as for me, well I would be lying if I said I wasn't scared shitless. But being the good little Navy brat that I am (my father would be so proud), I suck it up. I push back the fears of IEDs and snipers and try to focus on the fact that he is well trained, as are the other guys he's going with. I talk myself into the belief that "it's not as dangerous" any more. And I hope to God I never see those officers in class A's darken my doorstep.
Heh, I'm a barrel of laughs today aren't I.
But beyond all the "normal" reasons, I think he's amazing because he is willing to anything for me and our son, even risk the perils of war.
You see, he's a proud member of the National Guard. For the last three years he's been on activation, meaning he's been on active duty full time. The first year was relatively easy because he was only stationed a few hundred miles from home. At least he could come home on weekends! And that is the year, miracle of miracles, we got pregnant. I was so lucky he was able to be home when the baby came. Many fathers are not able to be there.
His second mission has taken place over the last year. He's been stationed in the next state over, not terribly far away but further than before. He'd barely come off the first mission when he was sent away again. I know it's been hard for him being away from our son for so long. I can hear it in his voice when he calls to say good night. I can see it in his face when we drop him off at the airport after his "weekend" visits every three weeks. But again, we are lucky because we can still see him every three weeks.
This mission will be over in about 4 weeks. But yet again he is being called upon to leave his family and serve his country - this time overseas. He'll be gone for a year. This time there will be no weekend visits and no goodnight phone calls every night. He will lose almost a whole year with our son. Sure, there will be a quick visit before he actually leaves the country, and a quick 2 week R&R after the first of the year but how do you cram a whole year of your young child's life into 4 weeks? This is weighing heavily on my DH. I hear it in his voice when he calls.
So, how can this possibly be good for our family? Financially it will put us in a place where we can start fresh when he comes home. He is sacrificing this time so that he won't have to work two jobs to help support our family. You see in his "other" life my DH is a Corrections Officer. And despite the importance, and danger, inherent in that job the pay is (in a word) lousy. Fewer bills means he can look for a job he really WANTS when he gets back, instead of having to settle for what he left behind 3 years ago.
And as for me, well I would be lying if I said I wasn't scared shitless. But being the good little Navy brat that I am (my father would be so proud), I suck it up. I push back the fears of IEDs and snipers and try to focus on the fact that he is well trained, as are the other guys he's going with. I talk myself into the belief that "it's not as dangerous" any more. And I hope to God I never see those officers in class A's darken my doorstep.
Heh, I'm a barrel of laughs today aren't I.
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
The eyes have it
The good news is, my eye appt went really well. I managed to "look into this light" and not mess up any of the tests. And even better, I get to switch from hard contacts to soft contacts. Ahhh, the sweet relief of not wearing a piece of glass in your eye! Of course now I have to learn a new way of putting in and taking out my lenses but that will come in time (I hope).
I've noticed a funny thing in the last couple of days. I find myself actually thinking about what I'm going to write in this blog. Me, the person who resisted journaling for so long. Me, the person who said "that's great, I'm just not that kind of person" when anyone would suggest it. The problem is, I actually woke up at 3:30 this morning thinking about what I should write about! LOL!
Well, it wasn't entirely about the blog. I think one of my son's toys is posessed. We just bought this musical toy for him on Sunday. It goes off randomly, even when there is no one in the room with it. It woke both of us up, and I think it scared my son. The only way to turn the dang thing off is to either remove the batteries (which I was too lazy to do) or to hit it. So I did. And the batteries fell out. Sigh! I guess that's what happens when you only spend $5 on a toy. But he really liked it so I caved. Lesson learned.
I've noticed a funny thing in the last couple of days. I find myself actually thinking about what I'm going to write in this blog. Me, the person who resisted journaling for so long. Me, the person who said "that's great, I'm just not that kind of person" when anyone would suggest it. The problem is, I actually woke up at 3:30 this morning thinking about what I should write about! LOL!
Well, it wasn't entirely about the blog. I think one of my son's toys is posessed. We just bought this musical toy for him on Sunday. It goes off randomly, even when there is no one in the room with it. It woke both of us up, and I think it scared my son. The only way to turn the dang thing off is to either remove the batteries (which I was too lazy to do) or to hit it. So I did. And the batteries fell out. Sigh! I guess that's what happens when you only spend $5 on a toy. But he really liked it so I caved. Lesson learned.
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
A hard habit to make
They say that repeating the same task 21 times creates a habit. OK, so in my attempts to make this a habit I'm posting today though I don't really have anything to say.
I have an eye doctor appointment in a couple of hours. Can I tell you how much I dislike going to the eye doctor? Not because it's painful but because my eyes are very photo-sensitive. When they want you to "look directly at this light" it is uncomfortable and I can't do it for longer than a couple of seconds.
So, here I sit with my ugly ass glasses on instead of my contacts waiting for time to leave for the doctor. If I could have surgery done to correct my eyesight and NOT have to be awake for it I would, but 1) it's too expensive and 2) you have to be awake. Um, no thank you. I'm vain but not that vain.
Oh, and my glasses make me want to throw up, not because they are ugly but because the prescription is so old I get sea sick wearing them.
Sigh! I'm such a mess...
I have an eye doctor appointment in a couple of hours. Can I tell you how much I dislike going to the eye doctor? Not because it's painful but because my eyes are very photo-sensitive. When they want you to "look directly at this light" it is uncomfortable and I can't do it for longer than a couple of seconds.
So, here I sit with my ugly ass glasses on instead of my contacts waiting for time to leave for the doctor. If I could have surgery done to correct my eyesight and NOT have to be awake for it I would, but 1) it's too expensive and 2) you have to be awake. Um, no thank you. I'm vain but not that vain.
Oh, and my glasses make me want to throw up, not because they are ugly but because the prescription is so old I get sea sick wearing them.
Sigh! I'm such a mess...
Monday, March 27, 2006
An Introduction
I was never one to journal when I was younger. I'm still not sure why I decided to start this. All the "momentous" occasions in my life have pretty much happened already. Well, the ones that I count as momentous any way...meeting my DH, getting married, the birth of my son...you get the picture.
The next big stage of my life is just waiting in the wings. I'm finally graduating from college with my Bachelor's degree. It's been 19 years in the making (with a 5 yr hiatus). The best part is I am studying what I love, the bad part is I'm so old! Ah, well, at least it's almost done. Now if I can just find a job...
There may actually be an opportunity for me to do this - find a job doing what I want I mean. My DH is being deployed overseas so I get the year between this summer and next summer to do pretty much whatever I want. I will miss him, of course. And I fear what would happen if the Middle East decides to deteriorate even further. But that is something I don't have control over so I'm trying not to worry about it.
So I've done it! I've created my first blog entry. It's just stream of consiousness, like most of my entries are likely to be. Hopefully they won't all be this boring! LOL!
The next big stage of my life is just waiting in the wings. I'm finally graduating from college with my Bachelor's degree. It's been 19 years in the making (with a 5 yr hiatus). The best part is I am studying what I love, the bad part is I'm so old! Ah, well, at least it's almost done. Now if I can just find a job...
There may actually be an opportunity for me to do this - find a job doing what I want I mean. My DH is being deployed overseas so I get the year between this summer and next summer to do pretty much whatever I want. I will miss him, of course. And I fear what would happen if the Middle East decides to deteriorate even further. But that is something I don't have control over so I'm trying not to worry about it.
So I've done it! I've created my first blog entry. It's just stream of consiousness, like most of my entries are likely to be. Hopefully they won't all be this boring! LOL!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
