My husband has been deployed six weeks now. This is when the adjustment period is supposed to be over, right? Well, at least that’s usually what happens around here. We’ve done this so many times that I know the general pattern of it and this last week was week 6: Hell Week.
It’s been the kind of week where I’m looking at these tiny humans I’ve created and asking who they are and what they’ve done with my real children. I’ve never had so many kids sitting in time-out at once. It’s a good thing we have a long staircase.
We’re six weeks in and my boyish little guys have sprouted horns and are carrying pitch forks. I’m left shaking my head, wondering why the words, “Stop licking your brother” just escaped my mouth. Oh, but it did. The four-year-old is looking up at me with a perfectly plausible explanation yet the big brothers are not amused.
We’re past the initial shock and the initial honeymoon period where the boys are little angels. We’re in triage mode: “whoever’s out of socks gets their laundry done next,” and “Yeah, we’ve got this.”
We’re six weeks in, and I’m wondering why on Earth I thought going on a Paleo-diet and giving up wine and caffeine was a good idea during a deployment. Any given day has every mood in this house. But I know that every day, without fail, each of the boys at a different time will whisper the words, “I just miss Daddy,” and my heart will break all over again.
Tomorrow will mark a full six weeks since he’s been gone, and this is finally starting to feel real. His face on Skype makes me want to crawl through the computer just to feel my fingertips against his skin. I’d almost forgotten how badly this sucks.
But we’re keeping busy. We’re out at events, hitting the parks and taking trips to visit family. I have a vow for this deployment: I shall not hermit and I mean to keep it. I’m trying to focus more on what the boys need and how to keep those smiles on their faces. I’m keeping close to my battle-buddies, both local and not, leaning when I need to and supporting where I can. I’m learning to run out my frustrations instead of eat them (the scale thanks me), and cherishing every second that I get my husband on Skype, phone, or IM.
Adjustment over. Welcome to deployment. We’re about to kick its butt.
Follow Rebecca at http://theonlygirlamongboys.blogspot.com/.
