Finally, sanity is slowly returning.

During the fifteen months while my husband was away from home for this most recent deployment, the toll on my daughter and I was indescribable.

Besides the fact my husband was away for so long, I had to deal with a few "uppers" in the military who made it very clear women should remain at home, not work, not drive, etc.  Yes, sadly there are still people who think this way.

Luckily, I received help from my civvy friends and community; my wonderful co-workers (they put up with a lot of crap during the 15 months!), neighbours (thank you thank you!), and community associations.  I received WAY more support from my civilian community than the military. 

I feel like I'm recovering somehow - I'm not sure exactly what from, but I do know part of my recovery is to stay clear away from the military and to never ever ask them for help. 

Big sigh of relief and I realize I'm ready to move on to my regularly scheduled life.  Thank God for my little community and the great people within.

Fifteen months of hell is nearly over - yahoo! It's a good time of year for a reunion too, it's warming up and flowers are coming, time to start gardening and all that nice stuff. This blog will end soon - I plan to post two or three time post reunion but thats it. Then on to my regularly scheduled wonderful life!

Swimming and Count Downs

My daughter's first swim lesson for this year was this past Saturday. She LOVED it, and so did I! I can't wait to go back next week. We switched to a pool that is much warmer and it's so much nicer to be not freezing while in the pool!

Count Down is nearly on... we're down to less than two weeks! I am not going to start counting until the last week because not only do I not like long count downs, but I don't want my daughter to loose interest in the count down, and if it's too long I'm sure she will.

Its one of those days

Those "do I want us to remain a military family" days. I am so sick and so tired of living life with no family, no close friends because we move so often, and a huge lack of support from the military. I long for my life back in our old big city, where we had lots of close friends, some family, and respectful employers who valued that we worked long, hard hours. So far removed from the life we now live. I have to say, the military is by far the worst employer I have ever encountered. I wonder why so many families stick with it? Is it their committment to serving, even if it means their life becomes a living hell? Is it because they know no different? Is it because they are happy living this life? Or are there many other unhappy spouses out there - not unhappy with their spouse, but unhappy with their spouses employer, who just learn to put up with it somehow?

I'm not posting nearly enough! Part of me thinks since there is only five weeks left that the deployment is basically over and in no time my husband will be back home! Plus my work has been keeping me crazy busy so that last thing I want to do when I get home is log onto the computer and think!

Since my husband has been away so long I find myself doing nothing but what I need to do to have my daughter and I survive. I get up, get dressed, get daughter dressed, give her a big glass of milk then put on our outer wear, grab my lunch and snacks then walk to daycare and work. Then I eat my breakfast at work, work out on my lunch hour, eat my lunch at work then head to daycare, pick my daughter up, walk home (picking up milk on the way if need be) then home to scrounge together supper. Supper is not always nutricious but it's food. When my husband gets home I will concentrate on normal healthy meals, but for now it's sheer survival.

God, I will be so thankful when this deployment is over.

Storytime on Saturday didn't go very well. I had a overly excited two year old who quickly turned into a very tired, cranky two year old who's mother had to carry her to the bus stop... not fun! Luckily she had a four hour nap when she got home.

My new job is going well, a bit slow but good. I don't mind work being slow at first because it gives me a chance to orientate myself. Hopefully it will pick up in about a week or two, otherwise, I will have to bring a book to work with me! :(

My husband has the MONTH he is coming back, now if only we knew the week or the day. Unfortunately I won't most likely find out until a day or two prior, which makes it tough to take a few days off work in advance. Luckily my work is pretty good about time off and I'm fairly certain there won't be any issues with some last minute days off, especially considering the circumstances.

Respite tomorrow evening, joy oh joy! I have a meeting to attend and have a few errands to run, so it will be nice to not have a toddler in tow for a few hours.

New Job

My first week of my new job is nearly done. It has been a busy week with learning new things reviewing other things and helping facilitate an annual all-day meeting on capital specialized equipment. Heavy duty stuff! I'm exhausted and ready for a relaxing weekend.

Tonight I plan to go home, have a quick supper, catch up on Coronation Street then off to bed early for both my daughter and I.

Saturday morning I plan to take my daughter to the library where they have family story time. This week is on Penguins, one of my daughter's newest obsessions, so she should enjoy it immensely.