Deployment Suckies

Since I did a couple of posts about the positives – I figure I should probably balance those out with the flip side lest anyone believe that I can be a positive Polly for the entire 9 months….. Ha!

Most days are okay. We get into our routines and do the things we need to do, even with part of our family away. For those who aren’t in the military, the best way I can describe deployment for me, is that it’s as if you hold your breath the entire time they’re gone, and are only able to finally (FINALLY) exhale once they return. Or it’s like living in black and white and the color fills in when we are all sleeping under the same roof again. Or both.

So while we do what we have to do….here are my least favorite things (Suckies) about deployment:

1. The fact that conversations are one-sided. For obvious reasons he cannot tell me where they are (until they’ve left) and what they are doing. He is starved for details of our days, yet can tell us nothing more that the “the oceans were rough today” or “it’s been busy”, or similarly vague statements.

2. Kids missing Daddy is a whole new level of suckiness. Jake woke up this morning and the first words out of his mouth were, “is Daddy home yet?” That’s a rough statement before I’ve even had a cup of coffee. Then it was followed by, “It’s taking for long times for him to come home from his work trip.” I know Bubba, I know. I feel the same way. I try not to think about the fact that we aren’t even a quarter of the way through this.

3. While the big things stink, like missing holidays and birthdays, I find I miss the small things, things like sharing the day as we fall asleep, laughing at whatever funny things the kids did. The little day-to-day stuff. Something happens that I know that would crack him up, and I can’t just talk to him when I feel like it.

4. Solo spider killing. This morning I had flashes of the movie Arachnophobia when I discovered about 10 baby spiders in a web in the garage on my bike handlebars. I rode my bike last week – its not like it’s been sitting in the corner collecting dust. I have active and apparently fruitful spiders. I detest having to deal with them.

5. Man Jobs – this may have been on my list of positives too. (I can’t remember and am too lazy to go back and look!) While I pride myself on being a fairly industrious and independent person, I really appreciate my husband and the things he does around our home. Things like unclogging hair drains. Ugh. With my hair you can only imagine how disgusting my drains can get! Other things like taking out the garbage etc., aren’t necessarily hard – but every time I do it, I’m reminded once again who isn’t.

6. He is my other half. When he is gone its as if I’m missing a limb. The whole thing just functions better when we are together. We mellow each other out when we are being driven crazy by the kids, work, and life.

7. I am WAY less motivated to cook when it’s just the kids and I. Jake is more of a grazer, Hannah just eats non-stop and I do my healthy eating thing that consists of 3 smaller meals and 3 snacks. Even though it works for us (and let’s get real – deployments are about survival. If everyone is still breathing at the end of the day, it’s a success!) sometimes I feel like I need to be putting out a feast at dinner like a Norman Rockwell piece! When Eric is home we do tend to have those sit down dinners more frequently.

Seven Suckies. That’s all I could come up with. They do suck. It could be worse. I know I am very blessed and am grateful for the life we have. I will be even more grateful when the color comes back and I can catch my breath.