Today was one of the longest of the year, other than the day before my husband came home, the first day of school. After two months of mostly sitting down, part of the difficulty of the day is just standing. I wore a nice dress, the same dress I wore when Chad came home, with relatively comfortable dress sandals, but after standing on hard floors for most of eight hours, my feet feel swollen and bruised.
Coming home emotionally and physically tired with a lot of things to do, I was superbly grateful to have my husband home. He didn't do anything amazing, but he noticed how tired I was. He offered to let me take a break. He made dinner, which while not a gourmet affair tonight, was on the table with minimal effort on my part. He put the baby in her pj's and held her while we said her goodnight prayers.
We didn't get a lot of time together tonight between dishes, mail, parent phone calls we each needed to make, etc., but we are starting to get back into a rhythm. It has been a long time since I came home exhausted and had someone here to be supportive.
Last year, the first day of school was my husband's last night in the country. I knew I would need all of my sick days, so I went to work. I came home exhausted and had to swallow my emotions to be supportive and strong while he packed his last bags for Iraq.
I think I came home the next night, just as tired, sad, and then all alone and cried. I think I spent much of the next few months just trying to survive, begging for help without getting much in the way of actual support. It was probably the second roughest time in my life, being a new mom, single and alone with no family nearby and few friends.
I don't know how I made it, but I did. And I am supremely grateful that at least for now, this year, I get to have him home, safe and sound, loving and kind. I don't know what I would do without him. Even though after a year with him absent, I know I could manage, I know I don't ever want to try. I am crashing hard after this very long first day of school, and am so glad that he is sitting across from me painting decoys, trying to decide if he should go with an African or North American coot even if no one has any idea what he's talking about. I just like watching him be home and excited about his hobbies again.
Coming home emotionally and physically tired with a lot of things to do, I was superbly grateful to have my husband home. He didn't do anything amazing, but he noticed how tired I was. He offered to let me take a break. He made dinner, which while not a gourmet affair tonight, was on the table with minimal effort on my part. He put the baby in her pj's and held her while we said her goodnight prayers.
We didn't get a lot of time together tonight between dishes, mail, parent phone calls we each needed to make, etc., but we are starting to get back into a rhythm. It has been a long time since I came home exhausted and had someone here to be supportive.
Last year, the first day of school was my husband's last night in the country. I knew I would need all of my sick days, so I went to work. I came home exhausted and had to swallow my emotions to be supportive and strong while he packed his last bags for Iraq.
I think I came home the next night, just as tired, sad, and then all alone and cried. I think I spent much of the next few months just trying to survive, begging for help without getting much in the way of actual support. It was probably the second roughest time in my life, being a new mom, single and alone with no family nearby and few friends.
I don't know how I made it, but I did. And I am supremely grateful that at least for now, this year, I get to have him home, safe and sound, loving and kind. I don't know what I would do without him. Even though after a year with him absent, I know I could manage, I know I don't ever want to try. I am crashing hard after this very long first day of school, and am so glad that he is sitting across from me painting decoys, trying to decide if he should go with an African or North American coot even if no one has any idea what he's talking about. I just like watching him be home and excited about his hobbies again.
No comments:
Post a Comment