So I've Started a Blog

Well, here it is. I know that I've always enjoyed journalling, but we'll see how this Blog thing goes.  I've never had one, but I saw that an old friend was asking questions about starting one, and it just planted a seed in my head.

Maybe this will be a good place to put all of the things that I'm going through with Matt's deployment, but then who wants to read about the emotional roller coaster that I'm on with being a somewhat "single" mom for the next year? Well, I guess no one has to read it, it would just be out there in cyberspace for the whole world to see should they choose to.  That's kinda scary when I really take the time to think about it.  Its funny how we've gotten to the point that we want the whole world to know our business with Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Blogs... and we used to freak out when our parents would read our diaries or go through our backpacks! Its strange how life has changed so drastically.

Matt has been gone for 9 days... it feels like 3 weeks.  He's only been able to call home once, and that was on Saturday. We got to Skype for about 2 1/2 minutes on Sunday, and this morning he sent me a very brief text message saying that he was thinking about me and that he's only gotten 2 hours of sleep in the last 30 hours.  Poor guy.  I know that they're training hard, which is good, obviously. In the last few years he's really been frustrated about the level of training and how they just seem to sit on their butts in the desert while they're at AT.
I've actually been doing pretty good since he's been gone. I really lost it when my mom was here. I think it was just having my mom and being able to let down and know that I was safe. She got in around 9:30, and she quickly produced pudding cups for the kids, and then pulled out two individual pints of ice cream.  Yeah, that was when I really broke down.  Years ago my dad was working nights and she wasn't used to being alone at night.  She called me at a friends house around midnight. She was sad that she was alone and missing dad.  She apologized that she had called crying, and then did the whole "I'll let you go" thing.  I knew that she needed me, so I left my friend's house, swung by safeway and got 2 pints of ice cream and went home to be with my mom.  We ate ice cream, switching back and forth between the 2 pints. That was where our friendship really began. We had always been somewhat close as mother and daughter, but we were friends.
So when she pulled out that ice cream, she said, "Its my turn! You never know when a kindness is going to be repaid." Yep, I lost it. We had a great time doing our yard sale together, she helped me clean up the house, and then we played Scrabble on Sunday afternoon.  We haven't played in forever, and I gave her a sound thrashing! :-)
Matt doesn't get to come home until the 13th of September, and he's only here for a few days before they head down south for more training. Forgive the vague nature of my descriptions, there's only so much that I can say. But it looks like our big goodbye is going to be during his few days at home. We most likely won't get to see him again before they go overseas.
Michael starts school on the 1st of September, so Matt won't be here for his first day of school.  He'll be able to take him for a few days while he's home, so I'm glad that he gets to at least experience that.
When I got to talk to Matt on Saturday he sounded really good.  Tired, but good. I'm not sure what else to write.  Maybe that means that I'm supposed to wrap this up? I'll get this blog thing down eventually!