Talked to my honey

Paul and I had a good conversation via IM this afternoon.  I really needed that.  I am feeling much better now and think I'm ready to get out of my funk and start making things happen for me.  Diet and exercise have been on hiatus long enough.  Tomorrow is a new week, and I am recommiting myself to doing a better job.

Depression

I think I am suffering from a mild depression.  I am not cleaning the house, doing the laundry, cooking meals.  I have got to get out of this funk.  It's not just me that is being affected by this.  My kids are too.

 

kids, illnesses, and registering for school

It's been a busy 7 days.  Mac was sick early last week.  Then Kendra and Kim started getting sick over the weekend. Kim has missed school all this week, but Kendra managed to get back yesterday.  This is a short week of school.  The kids are off Thursday and Friday for school registration and teacher conferences.

I called the school yesterday early in the morning to have Kim's homework collected up for her.  But the teachers never responded with her assignments.  Now she is afraid to go into school today "unprepared."  This sort of thing really pisses me off.  We try to do our part in this, but when the teachers don't or can't cooperate, it's the kids that get burned.  ARGGGH.

At any rate, I've got all the forms filled out for registration.  They have early registration here at the local elementary school so I don't have to make the trip to Katterbach.  I'm just not sure how successful I can be.  Kim and Mac have lost their ID cards and I am unsure how important this is to the process. All the kids were enrolled last year, but apparently this is something that must be done each new school year.  We'll see.

My oldest daughter

This is my oldest daughter with her daddy in his helicopter.  The year is 1991, the location Ft. Polk, LA. 

I post this picture here because this pic is very special to both of them.  Since her dad has left, Kendra has posted this pic, along with one of her daddy in our living room, on her bulletin board.  She frames both pictures with her rosary.  This is a special rosary that she picked up at Notre Dame in Paris during our visit there last fall.

She is an incredible child.  Smart, emotional, creative. I remember when she was five years old, we took her and her siblings to Gettysburg.  This was Paul's trip, he had been wanting to visit the battlefield and see the museum.  So one weekend, we packed up the kids and drove north (we lived in VA at the time).  What I will always remember about that trip is Kendra's reaction as the reality of that war began to sink in.  There was one room set up with little lights on a light board to represent the killed in action over the course of the battle.  At the end, the little lights that were on practically lit up the whole room.  Kendra asked about the lights and I explained what they represented.

We moved on, and in another area of the museum, there was a diorama set up of how the tents and such were set up.  The men were shown, around campfires and such, when they were not on the battlefield.  Suddenly, Kendra just sat down and put her hands over her face.  When I asked her what was wrong, she said "All those men, mommy, dying. Such a lot of men to lose."  I was taken aback at her sudden comprehension of all that was lost in that battle.

I wonder now, what she thinks about her daddy and the job he is doing. I know she is proud of him. She wears a special bracelet that our PTSA created to support the troops we currently have deployed.  She says she will not take it off until daddy returns. She is very much a "daddy's girl" and they are so similar in thought and view points, I sometimes think she misses him more than the other two, who have always been more connected to mom.

Each morning as I straighten up her room, I see her little "shrine" for her dad and I pause and I say a prayer.  I pray for his safety, I pray for the ones fallen, I pray for the countries involved... and I pray for my children, that even though I can't shield them from what their daddy does... that God give them understanding and faith and hope.  I pray that they continue to realize daddy does all this because he believes in his country, in the constitution and that he believes what he does matters.

 

Illness spreads

Mac is now at the beginning of his cold cycle.  I am keeping him home today because he does not feel well enough to go to school.  I am still tired and listless.  Sleeping and waking throughout the night. houswork is piling up.

And I thought the silence was due to the accident

So It's been days since I heard from my hubby.  There was an accident involving a Chinook on Wednesday in Afghanistan.  I figured communications were limited while they were contacting next of kin.  Well... yes... that was going on, but my hubby apparently was out flying when the weather changed as well.  His group of aircraft had the chance to set down before an accident could occur.  He had to wait out the storm for a day, and then wait again until someone could come out and give his aircraft a "jump start" when the engine wouldn't start running. 

I am not so sure I can be as complacent again when I don't hear from him for a few days.  This is such a tough line to walk.. to be so sad for the service members we've lost, to feel the pain of their loved ones left behind and yet be thankful that -this time- my soldier is still safe.

It reminds me a bit of a short story I read called "The Lottery."

I'm sick

There are not enough options on the mood list.  I am not sure that sad really covers my mood, but of the choices, it came closest.

I started feeling ill yesterday.  Sore throat, achy body and stuffy nose.  I took the kids to Kristall Palm Beach, a water park near us for part of the afternoon.  The place was steamy and hot.  I did not go dressed to get in the water, so I spent most of my time sweating something fierce.  I just kept feeling weaker and weaker as the day passed by.

This morning I knew I had to clean house.. it had gotten pretty messy in the last few days with me being gone most of each day.  Kendra has a date tonight and I did not want her date being frightened when he picked her up by how the house looked.  The kids were so good, they jumped up and helped me.  We had all the public rooms done in about an hour.  When they jump in like that to help without fuss and muss, I feel so blessed.

Well, her date just picked her up.  She is going to an JROTC ball tonight with a friend.  It's not a romantic date.  She looks so nice in her ball gown, when I get the pics developed, I'll post one on this site.

Now it's time to just relax and take care of me. :)