My husband headed to Louisiana to help our friends who we affected by the flood in August. He will be gone a total of five days. I believe this is the longest that he has been away since we have had Bruce. Naomi was too young to remember the other trips that have taken Daddy away. I was able to leave work early in order to pick up the kids and meet Stuart at the church so that they were able to say goodbye. That was important, but it also brought to the forefront how integral he is to the life of our family. Bruce always the tender-hearted one had said several times that he would miss him. After they drove away the kids were silent in the back seat with their thoughts.
Naomi finally spoke up. “It’s going to be a rough five days, isn’t it Mom?” “Why do you say that?” I asked, slightly affronted that they seemed to have so little faith in me, but also to see where her reasoning would take her. “Well, it will be hard… you know, cause he is Dad…” I decided then that I needed to claim the weekend, there isn’t much I can do to help the routine with Dad being gone, but I surely can work on our weekend to make it fantastic. Our Saturday began with a service project here locally at the Birth Center that has just opened it’s doors. The kids did great, Bruce made a friend, Grace whom he worked with to pull branches to the pile, Naomi helped clear, rake and water new trees and shrubbery. After this we headed up the mountain to meet with other family and took a wonderful canoe trip on Price Lake outside of Boone. On the way back down the Parkway we stopped at my favorite overlook, Rough Ridge. We hiked to the top, enjoyed the view and hiked back down. Not once this day did my kids pitch fits, whine or cry… What they did do was to request that I take pictures to show dad later. After each task was complete and each stroke of the paddle; Mom, take a picture for dad. Wouldn’t dad love this trip? We have to bring dad back up here so that he can see this. Sunday we headed to church, and took a short trip to the Arboretum to see the LEGO display.
This weekend taught me a few things. Namely being, that no matter how much they cry for mom, want to smother me and fight over who gets to sit closer to me. I am not all that they need. I am so thankful for the partnership that I have with their dad. I am so thankful that they have a dad they can depend on for the confidence that they need to try new things. I am impressed by the families that make the adjustments needed when their partnerships require regular time apart. #Thankful #familytimeisimportant #noideahowsinglesdoparenting #muchrespect #militaryfamilies
Serious thoughts on virtual paper
Serious thoughts on virtual paper