Scott has been here! Six months into his deployment, he finally got to come home to us. We spent two marvelous weeks together, and he flew back to Iraq this morning, so today is what I like to call my recovery day. Basically, on recovery day, I allow myself to curl up in the fetal position and bawl, ignore the ridiculous amount of dirty dishes and eat ice cream for dinner. And lunch, if I so desire.But...instead of dwelling on the sad idea that it's over, I'll think back to the fun things we did on mid-tour leave.
-a living room campout with a tent and fire for roasting marshmallows
-a little two-steppin' for mom and dad (it's been a loooong time)
-taking a drive to check out the acreage we are buying
-Children's Museum of Houston
-Lots of visiting with family
-Super exciting one: the kitchen was cleaned NOT BY ME!!!
*Sigh* It was a WONDERFUL time, and I would now like to publicly praise child thing #1. She has done SUCH a good job adapting to all these changes in her routine. She adores her daddy, and was beyond ecstatic when he came home, but she has taken his leaving again really well. On the drive to the airport this morning, she said several times, "I don't want Daddy to go back to Iraq." And she cried a little when we left, but mostly she has just been helping me. Apparently I'm more of a crybaby than she is.
As I said, this is my recovery day, so I am apt to randomly burst into tears. I really, really try to keep that under control in front of the kids because that just makes it worse for them. But, I was caught in the act once by child thing #1. When she saw my tears, she said, "I know what I'll do, Mommy." and ran out of the room. A few minutes later, she emerged with a hand-drawn family portrait.
"I made a picture of Thomas and me and you and Daddy," she held it up for me to see. "Any time you miss Daddy, you can just look at him in this picture."
And it was so sweet it almost got the waterworks going again...but she was trying SO hard to make me stop crying I was able to contain myself.
How blessed am I to have such a wonderful family?! And I'll be waiting for the day this summer when we are all together again!!
1 comment:
Eric's deployments have all been shorter, but I do understand the nonstop waterworks that come those first few days. The kids are so resilient. Natalie "caught" me a few times, and she'd go get me a tissue, then curl up in my lap to give me a hug (which if you know Natalie, is a big deal, because she's not our cuddler).
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