Just saying...

What a week! Christopher is moving somewhere new in Iraq. Troy is still flying in Chinooks somewhere in Iraq. Both very busy with the national elections this weekend over there. Jeremy is still training on Apaches at Fort Knox and doing pretty well also.

My week?? Well, I went back to the doctor a third time in three weeks for my ears. The lingering cough from the pneumonia will be around for a couple more weeks according to the doctor, but I'm now working on unplugging my ears so I can hear like a normal person again. My kids at school (7th graders) took their 1st of two state assessments (in Writing this week and Reading will be late April) and the district "Axe Lady" with pink slips made a visit to our campus. I am not on the chopping block, but it is still stressful when several friends lose their jobs. Despite all of that, I'm feeling much better and FRIDAY has arrived. Yeah Weekend!!

Missing my boys terribly about now. It has been too long since any of them have been home. The sons were home in January and Troy November. I probably sound like a bipolar person right about now, but that is how it goes for me if I have too much time to think. I'm very proud of what my men have chosen to do with their lives, but as a wife and mother it is nearly impossible to ignore the pain and anxiety of separation that comes with the choice of military service. I have friends who understand that point deeply. Thank you April for teaching me so much about sacrifice and separation long before I knew I was going to be learning any lessons on the issue! Your friendship has been a godsend as well as your blog!! I deeply miss you and am planning to come sometime in late June or late July. Still looking at some dates, so please pencil me in at Johnson Inn!!

I always thought it would be so wonderful to be able to have control of the remote whenever I wanted to have it, but now I don't care so much. At first it was a power rush just to know that I could watch what I wanted when ever I wanted. Not so much any more. Sometimes I just sit in his chair because it is his and it is all I have right now besides an empty space in the bed we have shared for so many years. I knew it would be a difficult sacrifice, but my heart is aching so much more than I ever anticipated. The boys' room is empty, too. No one to randomly come in and say, "Hey, Mom, how was your day?" or "Hey, Mom, I love you." The silence is often deafening around here.

I am incredibly grateful for my friends! I appreciate the calls, texts and FaceBook posts with words of encouragement. Thanks to those of you who let me hang out with your families and have adopted me as part of your own. I am deeply grateful for company and occasional shoulders for support. My friends at work have been incredible, too. I don't know how I would have made it this far without so much encouragement.

I'm not sure too many people want to read the rantings of an Army Wife/Mom, but I'm posting for my sanity whether anyone else cares to read it or not!