Tag Archives | kids

Manic Monday for a Military Wife

By on July 13, 2010 in Deployment

Whew! Mondays are always hard; tougher still when you have a squirmy 11 year old sleeping with you, who is a bed hog and who snores almost as loudly as his father. Note to myself: The snoring issue must be hereditary, remember to warn my son’s future wife someday to buy cases of earplugs. So, with approximately 6 hours of spotty snatched of sleep I am up and running; except not really running, because once again I have slept until 6:30 and do not have time to exercise.

I have work and Elijah starts summer band today, so I have to text in that I will be late for our weekly virtual staff meeting and off we go. Either I wrote down the location wrong or it was moved, because we could not locate the summer band rehearsal and had to drive around to several of our school buildings until we ended up at the elementary school where we probably should have started. Oh well.

I have started working from the dining room table instead of my office, partly because it’s cooler on the first floor and partly because I want to be nearer to Elijah as he plays, eats and works on his projects. Elijah and I decide to have tuna salad sandwiches for lunch and egg salad sandwiches for dinner; both of which my absent husband will not eat. Points for us.

We get groceries and finish our evening by playing Atari. My son annihilates me despite the fact that he was not born until 20 years after I owned my original Atari system.

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Invention Showcase

By on July 9, 2010 in Deployment

This morning was a bit cooler; only 78 degrees when I stepped outside. It was 85 by the time I started on my run and I ended up walking the entire second half due to heat exhaustion. I was very discouraged at my lack of progress and berated myself all the way home that I had not gone running at 6AM when it was only 68.

I attended Elijah’s invention showcase at day camp and though it was about a thousand degrees in that building; it was well worth it to see the animation on his little face as he described his machines built out of recycled objects. I was so relieved to see the interest and enthusiasm back. It was a nice end to our week and we celebrated with milk shakes at McDonalds on the way home. Tonight I have a glass of wine and toast a week successfully navigated as a single mom who is missing her husband terribly, but managing to hold it together.

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Happy Birthday America

By on July 4, 2010 in Deployment

Today was actually much more challenging than the last few. It was so very frustrating to be celebrating our nation’s patriotic birthday without my husband. I knew he was training in Germany and would not get the day off for a picnic, parade or fireworks. He had to leave his family to serve his country and it seems many times that its citizens forget the sacrifices he makes for them and the loneliness that we are living with. I am so proud of him that I could just burst. I find myself crying and smiling at the same time and still it feels right somehow.

It’s just Elijah and I today. I make the coffee and shuffle out to get the get the Sunday morning paper in my bathrobe. I just love the quiet, luxury of a leisurely Sunday morning. When I get to spend it outside, it’s almost magical. I miss Anthony coming back from his Sunday run and enjoying the paper with me. I miss our weekly couple time while the kids are still sleeping and there are no work pressures to intrude. There is more free time on Sundays, so I know these will be the hardest for me to bear.

We went to a nearby state park for a picnic with family and friends which was a nice diversion for a few hours. I could sense Elijah was feeling a bit downhearted and I really found myself craving solitude so we returned home and swam in the pool, just the two of us. We ate dinner by ourselves on the back deck and tried to figure out what to do with our evening. As it happens a neighbor called and invited us to go see some fireworks in a nearby town, but for some reason I just didn’t feel like being social. I encouraged Elijah to go with them however and even though he seemed torn, he accepted. I suspected that he might be feeling guilty for leaving me and I realized that I need to be vigilant that he does not feel responsible for me. I watched the fireworks on TV and reflected back on the last few days. I am concerned about Elijah’s frequent periods of withdrawal. Of course he is sad and lonely and has bouts of melancholy, but I am a bit worried about depression am now on high alert. No word from Anthony today.

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