the potential for more
my parents got married when they were 19 years old. they’re still together and disgustingly adorable. i say that with genuine admiration, because it’s wonderful knowing that you have been raised by two people who are so deeply in love with one another.
they spent some time apart after graduating high school. my dad moved out to texas. mom remained in florida. she made a quilt when she wasn’t writing him. the quilt is something that i can remember being draped over our couch for years when i was a child. each square of the quilt has a message on it… a date, a name, a memory.
i took that quilt with me when i went to college.
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when paul and i were engaged, i had a conversation with my dad about the impending wedding. there were sweet words that only a father giving away his only daughter can share. there were laughs as he asked me if one of my best friends, a bridesmaid, would still have pink hair come wedding time. (FYI: she didn’t, but when her hair was pink, she rocked the hell out of it.)
at one point during that conversation, i remember my dad shaking his head and chuckling. i asked him what was so funny and he responded with “my peace loving, free spirit of a daughter is marrying a navy pilot.”
i laughed with my dad. i couldn’t believe it myself… sometimes i still can’t.
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it’s funny when you take time to reflect on the loves in your life… the people you let into your world at different points in time. people who come in to your life and stick around, for a while, forever. people who go but left their mark on you and influenced you in some way. people you have influenced. and people you have yet to interact with.
the potential for more…
no matter how much i plan and attempt to organize my life, i am continually amazed by surprises… those things that i didn’t plan for.
good things and bad. the potential for both, every day.
you would think i’d be used to this concept by now, but i’m not.
the unexpected is a frightening thing to me. it’s always there. it’s always a possibility. and that is difficult for me to embrace.
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after being married to paul for over 6 years and together for almost 12 (jesus!), one would think i’d have gotten used to what he does for a living, and all that is involved with it.
but i’m not used to it.
in all honesty, i doubt i’ll ever be used to it. i’m actually quite removed from it… by choice. paul is constantly teaching me new things about his job, how it changes, and the history behind it… how he grew up in this lifestyle, how some of it is new/different, and some has remained the same. my father-in-law does this too, sharing bits and pieces.
sometimes i think they do this for themselves, to remember.
they both know what to expect from this lifestyle, for the most part. at least they seem to. they “get it” and i don’t.
so i hum along. i listen to their stories and explanations. i question A LOT.
and i keep going. hand in hand with paul… and now with jackson too.
the day will come when jackson has questions about this lifestyle that paul and i have chosen for ourselves and our family. questions will come probably sooner than i am anticipating.
he will wonder why his daddy goes away some times. he will learn the art behind letter writing. he will come to appreciate “welcome home” parties. and in the same way that i have learned one’s family contains many more people than those you share DNA with, jackson will learn that too.
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we planned on having a sibling for jackson during our time here. the timing to get pregnant, while we knew paul would be home, was something that was important to both of us. he didn’t get to experience my entire pregnancy with jackson, arriving home mere weeks before the magoo joined us in this crazy world over two and a half years ago.
but it wasn’t meant to be… right now.
i have since spent some time reflecting on the concept of family. it means a lot to be a part of a family, to love through good times and bad. memories are made, some things are never forgotten, and without realizing it at the time, we grow from it all… becoming who we are as (GASP) adults.
we gain strength, character, patience. we keep what happens to us with us… people with us… experiences. but we continue to move forward and welcome the new.
the potential for more.
this weekend, we remembered
paul’s beloved grandpa jack and many others who have so bravely and selflessly served.
i made my first mocha, nearly broke the machine, overflowed scalding hot espresso on myself and didn’t froth properly
my parents gave us an espresso machine for christmas, which is VERY APPRECIATED as it was MUCH NEEDED in our household. the problem is that paul is classically trained in the operation of the espresso machine (because he read the manual) and i am not (because i don’t read instructions… ever.)
i just attempted to make my first mocha with a double shot of espresso. and i failed. kind of. what i am now drinking does contain chocolate syrup and two + shots of espresso because i overflowed, so i will most likely have the caffeine jitters by the time i hit “publish” on this post.
i should’ve just gotten in the car and gone to starbucks.
though i have what i would call a distinct NEED for coffee (paul would most likely call it an obsession), i am in particular NEED of caffeine to run through my veins at this distinct moment on this distinct monday for the following reasons…
- the weekend didn’t work out as we had intended. originally, paul and i were going to go away and ski for the weekend. i bailed. why? because i didn’t want to pack yet another suitcase. i’ve been living out of suitcases since november and the thought of packing another one and prepping just for a short weekend getaway gave me a panic attack and made me consider cutting my wrists (the incorrect way, don’t worry.)
- instead of going to bed early on friday night to catch up on the sleep that i have not been getting over the last 2 months, i stayed up til 1 am with my husband, drinking beer and watching conan’s last show. paul and i took a trip to nyc a few years ago and stood in line to be audience members in one of conan’s shows, but we honestly weren’t HUGE conan fans. yeah, what NBC is doing is totally dick and jay leno is a douche, but we knew that already.
- the magoo ended up spewing liquid out of both ends of his body because he was fed expired hummus (the individual who fed said expired hummus to the magoo shall remain nameless.) needless to say, this made things very NOT fun for saturday evening and into sunday. multiple loads of puke and diarrhea laundry is not my idea of a good time. in addition to the extra laundry, a horrendous diaper rash now festers on my son’s bum.
- i’ve been contacted with regards to a potentially STABLE freelancing gig as a blogger, and i’m sweating bullets over it because it could be ABSOLUTELY AWESOME. those of you who blog, freelance, or just dream of “working” while sitting on your couch, not wearing a bra and drinking a crappy mocha know what i mean. i can say no more about this potential opportunity because my palms are already dripping with sweat and i don’t want to short-circuit my keyboard. also, i could jinx it.
- i’m in the midst of my anxiety meds being adjusted, which is never an easy experience. regardless of what you may take medication for, adjusting any bit of it, whether it’s the dosage or switching to an entirely different drug, is so hard to do. this is why they call it “chemistry” and why i came THIS CLOSE to failing it in high school. every teeny milligram, even part of a milligram of the medication needs to be JUST RIGHT in order for it to balance out what is currently imbalanced in mah head. this process, when it works, can take up to weeks to see “improvement.” it’s not a fun process for me or for those around me, cuz they never know when i’m goina go all wack-a-doo on their asses… or just not be able to get out of bed.
- on a similar note, i’m getting to spend countless hours each day finding a shrink who takes my insurance. currently there are none within a 60 mile radius of where we live. that’s the bad news. the good news is that my family practitioner (who i saw last week) is helping me as much as possible to use her resources to find me someone to purge my shit on.
- this maryland weather is so messed up and it’s messing with mah head. i need to see the sun. i NEED to. it can be cold as hell out (well, hell supposedly isn’t cold… i’ll report back once i learn for sure) point being, as long as i can see sunshine, i’m good. lately, if the sun peaks out here, it lasts for about 25 minutes and then it’s gone for 25 days. not so good.
- the magoo bed/crib situation is still sucking. this of course is unless paul is home, and then all is well with the world. the magoo sleeps 2 + hours, wakes up happy as a clam, and doesn’t make me absolutely distain toddlerville. when paul is not home, we have what i now refer to as the magoo-monster. this does NOT make for good nap times, which does NOT make for fun afternoons and makes me absolutely loathe toddlerville and all that comes with it. the magoo-monster is manipulating and playing the favorite parent game.
so those are my reasons for needing an abundance of caffeine. i have now consumed 85% of my mocha and all i have left is chocolate syrup.
just hook me up to an IV next time.
anxiety angst
i’m goina go out on a limb here and just say it flat out… i’m struggling. BIG TIME. the aftermath of loss, grieving, shock, denial, confusion… it’s sent my anxiety through the goddamn roof.
i want so badly to continue on with my life here. i was hoping to get some sense of normalcy once coming home and getting back into a routine with the magoo. instead, i find myself experiencing multiple panic attacks a day and battling insomnia.
i know healing takes time. i’ve grieved before.
but i have never grieved as a parent before.
and grieving the loss of a child, an 18 year old girl, has hit me like a brick wall. i did not just grieve for my former roommate last week when we buried her sister. i did not just grieve as a friend.
i grieved with her mother, for her mother… because now i am a mother.
certain parts of the beautiful eulogy from the memorial service resonated with me differently than it did with others who are not yet parents. and certain parts of her death have been more difficult to accept because i am a parent.
i read a post a few days ago from heather armstrong of dooce.com and found myself nodding my head because as she described her panic attack, i knew EXACTLY what she was talking about.
i experienced it just this morning. the shortness of breath, the tingling limbs, wondering if i go to the ER or not. and it sucks. i don’t want to be feeling the way that i’m feeling right now. i would love to close my mind off to certain things and not think about other things and watch tv at night with paul and just enjoy a show without my mind racing a million miles a minute. i would love to sleep.
but i’m struggling right now. so i’m going to my doctor in 2 weeks and figuring out how to start climbing this hurdle.
and today, i’m going to get a massage.
i shot guns and stuff
crap. i owe this blog a serious update of massive proportions.
but it’s not going to happen today. i’d like for it to happen today, but i just don’t have it in me.
after 2 weeks of being gone and sleeping in more locations than i can remember, crying way more than an obscene amount, and then returning home… i find myself depleted in every way.
this last week has sucked in ways that have taken a toll on me mentally, emotionally and physically. i wasn’t prepared for any of this, but neither was my dear college roommate, em, who lost her sister at 18 and is now being the rock for her grieving family to rest on.
em- i love you so much and i am always here for you.
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so yeah, the holiday was good. jackson was spoiled rotten. his loot of gifts had to be shipped back home because there was too much to fit in our luggage.
paul and my father-in-law taught me how to shoot a gun, which i swore to myself i would never do. i’ll most likely never do it again, but had my own reasons for learning and accomplished my goal. hell, i even shot a tin bowling pin target thingy down. entirely by accident… but still.
the holiday is kind of this whirlwind that’s in the back of my mind.
did it really happen?
holidays with a child who has both sets of grandparents in the same city is both a blessing and a curse. you (the primary caregiver) bring your “work” with you over the holidays and it’s never as relaxing as you may have hoped. at least it’s not for me. it was wonderful to have 4 loving grandparents and 2 uncles to occupy jackson, babysit and dote on him for two solid weeks. however, now i am at home with a tantrum-driven, (nearly) 21 month old who has been given everything he has asked for… and sometimes i say “no.”
so between the crocodile tears and pretzel throwing and door banging, i wonder where the hell the holiday went.
and new years… when did it become 2010?
new years eve was spent with one of my six former roommates on night-duty over em and her parents after we buried her sister that morning.
i’ll never forget rubbing em’s mom’s feet with vick’s vapo-rub and placing warm socks on her in an attempt to get her to relax enough to sleep a few hours.
i’ll never forget it because i was exactly where i was supposed to be.
em- i love you so much and i’m always here for you.
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i have a ton of family pictures to share. a lot of great stories. but for now this post will have to do, because i really need a nap.
ps- thanks to all of you who have sent such loving comments, facebook messages, tweets and emails. the comments on each of my posts close after 5 days, so for those of you who emailed me because you couldn’t comment the last few days, i thank you for your persistence and kindness.
Have a Sip
