Day 4:Welcome to Oz

Dear Fabulous Spouse,

Oldest Child’s room is almost done.

I hope that your last night in California went well.  Will forward the boxes you mailed home to South Carolina when I get them.  

We ate the last of the left over Chinese food for dinner.  Both the boys plan on having company spend the night to celebrate New Year’s Eve.  Do you think that that they will call the ball drop in Times Square good enough?

Girl Friday asked if you were coming home tonight, and I reminded her that you were deployed until next year.  Her response, “So he is coming home Monday?”

Have a good flight!

We Miss You,

Me

Translation: Toto, we are not in Kansas any more!

Wow. After three days working in Oldest Child’s room, I feel like I might as well adopt a horse of a different color and start looking out for winged monkeys.  Actually, Oldest Child picked the colors for the high school he will be attending in the fall.  They just happen to be Land of Oz green, black, and white.

It is always interesting to see how children deal with a deployment.  Sometimes they breeze through it, sometimes they rage against it, and sometimes it is a little of both.  Currently, my boys are in the stoic, situation normal mode (although I could see how much it touched Illusive Middle Child to see his first communion cross which he gave his dad in the picture of Fabulous Spouse’s dog tags).

Girl Friday is in that first grade land where time drags on forever and passes in a flash.  Fabulous Spouse regularly leaves on Monday and returns home on Friday. So, this afternoon, she asked what time Daddy was coming home.  I had to explain… again… that Daddy was not coming home until next year.  Poor choice of words, I guess, as 2012 begins on Sunday.

“So, Dad is coming home on Monday, then,” her smart little mind deduces. No. I had to again explain that he was going away for 12 months, but we would see him for two weeks during the summer after the 4^th of July.  “But, we already had that.”   She is still well adjusted though. Still happy to talk to Fabulous Spouse on the cell phone and quickly pass him back.  Afterall, we are no longer in Kansas anymore.  Welcome to the world of Technicolor!  I guess that it is better than black and white and the Twilight Zone!

...and just remember: There is no place like Home!