OEF 2009 » Lady Jess

Day 6: Ummm…Now What?

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Jul 242009

Progress on the creepy crawler paranoia…I let both kids go outside today. That doesn’t mean I’m not going to be on pins and needles til…the rest of their lives at home?

Youngest had a speech therapy appt. They basically told her she had a lateral lisp, try and get into the speech program at the school. If not, they’ll see her here. And they put in a consult for a hearing test.

I actually went back to World of Warcraft last night. First time I’ve played in I think 2 weeks. Had a blast, and relaxed for the first time all week.

Real exciting stuff eh? And I thought blogging a whole deployment would be easy! Apparently it isn’t. Then again, I’m quite happy with no excitement right now. After the last couple weeks, I think I had enough.

Day 5: He Loves Me:)

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Jul 232009

I finally got my first call. Midnight last night my cell phone finally rang. The poor guy is super busy, but they finally had some time. His words were they “hit the ground running”. They aren’t really “there” yet, they are in their “limbo” location to acclimate and train for a while. It’s hot of course, but he’s ok with that. We talked for a while, I caught him up on the shooting we had at the px yesterday. Oh…guess I should talk about that huh?

Around 11:10am yesterday, I thought I’d run to the PX and get the dogs their food. But, because I’m a little obsessive about hearing from Hubby, I opted to not go anywhere until I did. At 11:20pm a man walked into our PX, shot one of the kiosk vendors, and turned the gun on himself. Both victims died. It was a really frightening thing to hear, a block from your house no less. I feel so bad for her family, and his. You just don’t expect this kind of thing behind these gates.

Anyhow, we chatted for a bit when the phone warned him his time was up, he said I’d hear from him in another week. Unfortunately, the phone cut us off before we got to say “I Love You”. My heart broke a little, but I was happy to at least have had my first call. I comforted myself with the fact that he knows I love him, and I know he loves me. Suddenly, my cell phone rings again. He found a call center with no lines. So he called back.

Me: I was just sitting here doing my “I didn’t get my I Love You freakout”
Him: I figured:P

The man called me back, to say I Love You. I have the bestest husband ever. EVER!!

Day 4: Logic Has Taken A Vacation

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Jul 222009

The first week is the hardest. The first week is the hardest. I just keep telling myself that. We are now into day 4, and still no word. We all know, my everyday patience threshold is almost nil. So the fact that I’ve gone this long without screaming in a mad fit, is proof that I’m a different woman when he deploys. Though I’m getting a bit…ok ALOT antsy. At least I have coffee today. That’s some comfort. Logically I know I can’t expect what we had last deployment. The most I went was 3 days, and that was during the dreaded communication blackouts. The strangest thing is…I’m always tempted to send him a text. But his cell phone is sitting here with me. And I know this! But the temptation is still there. Logic took a vacation.

The poor dogs. Noone talks about how family pets deal with deployment. Our big white Malamutt, hasn’t figured it out yet. He’s really confused. every day, between 5 and 7pm, when he hears a car, he runs to the door and waits, our German Shepherd follows suit. When the door doesn’t open, he goes to the sink, stands on his back legs and looks out the window. He can see the truck in the driveway. So he goes back to the door…then back to the sink, until I go get him and bring him back to the living room. He’s so bonded to Hubby it’s unbelievable. He made me cry the first time he did it. This isn’t something he’s done when Hubby was gone for short times like schools and training. That tells me, he knows this is different. He’ll get it figured out eventually, but it’s really sad watching him right now. He’s also acting out a bit. Just like a young child would. Pushing to see how much he can get away with. The challenge there is simply using the “nothing in life is free” approach. If he wants attention, he has to sit calmly, same goes for feeding, and going out. You do not want a 100 pound dog being pushy and obnoxious.

naptime They should totally include pets in briefings, they’re family too!

Day 3: Coffee IV please?

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Jul 212009

I let the kids go outside. I needed the alone time. Especially since I woke up and the coffee maker decided to freaking DIE on me. I’m displeased. THEN I burned my thumb on the stupid thing. It has decided it needs to self clean. I have decided payday needs to hurry the hell up so I can just replace the stupid thing.

In the first deployment, I found I had a mental limit to how long I could not hear from him before I started getting antsy. It was three days. This is day 3. I’m antsy. I don’t WANT to be, but I am. Hell I don’t even know if he’s “there” yet. I can tell you glaring at my phones is NOT helping. I’ve decided my theme song for today is Call Me.

I have an FRG meeting tonight. I intended to go, but I just don’t feel like being around people, or squeezing our truck into tiny parking places. I really want my coffee!!!!

Day 2: Oh Sweet Irony

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Jul 202009

Blogging every day of this deployment may be harder than I thought. It’s day two, and it isn’t much different than day one. Ok I’m not tearing up over commercials today, I guess that’s progress. Thought that may be because I’m too busy cleaning and vacuuming everything in sight. Apparently, the family tradition of someone getting lice any time Hunny leaves remains strong. I kid you not.

11 years ago, he takes a job across the state, leaving us in our current home til he finds us a house. My Mother in Law brought my oldest daughter (then 4) home from head start. She got lice.
7 years ago. He goes to basic training. The school calls, one of the kids has lice.
4 years ago. He’s preparing to deploy, we go home to visit. The kids pick up lice when we get home, no idea how.
This year, a week before he left, it happens again.

WTF?? Why?? can’t we ever have something simple? like the sink clogs? I guess I should be careful what I wish for. The problem is, I guess there’s a family on post with several kids, that have lice and haven’t been treating it. They don’t live in our neighborhood, but the little critters have great travel skills. I don’t even want to let my kids out of the house at this point. Oh sure they’ve been treated, and retreated, everything has been vacuumed, and cleaned, and bagged, and sprayed, they have been combed and checked and rechecked, we don’t share towels, bedding, brushes, hats etc. Take EVERY precaution. Including using the treatment with a 2 week residual effect.

At this point, I HAVE to let the youngest get back to her friends. I can’t keep her in all summer. It’s just so hard worrying if I’m going to have to go through this again. Nothing really prevents it. I know the facts. They can only survive 48-55 hours without a host, once they HAVE a host they usually stay put, so as long as she isn’t rubbing heads, using pillows brushes or hats that others have used she should be ok. I’ve treated the oldest, who when I combed her hair after had nothing at all, but she gets it again in 10 days regardless. I’ve bought tea tree oil shampoo because it’s supposed to repel the little nasties. All new brushes too. Here’s hoping that tomorrow I can let her go. And here’s hoping she doesn’t get the little bastards back.

Oh, the Irony i mentioned in the title…what I originally INTENDED to blog about but got distracted? It hit me this morning.

I knew my husband was my one and only, when I realized I couldn’t imagine my life without him. Nine years after we got married he joined the army, and now I go months at a time without him BECAUSE I love him. Talk about “All’s fair in love and war” eh?