Day 10: Ships Passing

This is the thing...

For the seven months before becoming captain (and consequently, for me, a captain's wife) my husband was on parental leave. I slept in almost every day, my coffee was made and waiting. I read books, I doddled on this laptop birthday present from him (I love my computer!), watched my stocks, researched, played. He took the kids and I had lots of time to myself.

Life was pretty leisurely.

Now is a whole other ballgame.

Since 10 days ago, I've seen my husband maybe 2 hours a night before bed. We're both zoned, kind of a ships passing in the night sort of deal. He kisses me goodbye in the morning. I open one eye, mumble something, fall back asleep. This is how it will be...when he's home that is.

My daughter is taking it the hardest I think. She's pretty used to her dad being around. They're pretty close. My son is easy. He's just a baby and doesn't really know what's what.

Tonight I passed her room, peeked in and saw her standing there watching out the window. I watched her watch for awhile, then left to get the laundry. This morning when she came to our bed and asked if Daddy was at work, and when I said yes, she just nodded. She used to cry and say, "But I didn't get to kiss him goodbye..." Even when he went to the store.

I can't imagine what it must be like for families who do this for an entire career. I met my husband later in life, after we had both done our adventuring, and thus caught him at the tail end of his. After this he'll probably get a desk job and we won't have to be apart for much of our marriage. Right now I'm getting just a taste of how most military families live, what mostly the women and children have to endure.

It's really quite admirable. It's really quite alot of things.