Single parenthood, again
So I just dropped my husband off at his unit this morning; they fly for Korea today. He'll be gone for a year. It's always a little surreal doing this. He's been deployed before, he already spent a year in Afghanistan and I dropped him off for that one, too. I remember our older daughter was three then, and the baby was only two months old. They didn't really understand then, and the younger one still doesn't grasp it now, although our oldest, who turns seven today, understood enough to get upset that Daddy was leaving for a long time.
I'm working on convincing myself it will be easier this time. I have a job now, I have good childcare, we own our home and will thus not be forced to move unexpectedly because the landlord decides they want to sell (which is what happened on his last deployment). Plus the kids are older, sleeping through the night, out of diapers, and not as high maintenance as they were the first time.
Then again, the having a job thing cuts both ways. Yes, it means I will be able to get out of the house and see other adults and not stay at home all day with small children, but it also means I have to, you know, work.
Still. Positive thinking. A year is not really that long, it only seems that way at the start of it. We'll all adjust, and pretty soon, stop expecting him to come home every day.
I'm working on convincing myself it will be easier this time. I have a job now, I have good childcare, we own our home and will thus not be forced to move unexpectedly because the landlord decides they want to sell (which is what happened on his last deployment). Plus the kids are older, sleeping through the night, out of diapers, and not as high maintenance as they were the first time.
Then again, the having a job thing cuts both ways. Yes, it means I will be able to get out of the house and see other adults and not stay at home all day with small children, but it also means I have to, you know, work.
Still. Positive thinking. A year is not really that long, it only seems that way at the start of it. We'll all adjust, and pretty soon, stop expecting him to come home every day.