Missing My Family

I've only been separated from Mary and the kids for about two weeks now, though it seems longer than that. We've been separated for longer than this but knowing that there is no firm end in sight makes it difficult. It's also hard knowing that it's much harder on Mary with four kids that, on their own, miss their daddy. As I begin my new job working with service members in the Navy and having made friends with many in the Air Force, I know that what my family is experiencing isn't as stressful nor will it be as long as the deployments that those families in the Armed Forces deal with. Nonetheless, it's hard for us. Mary and I enjoy connecting each evening and it's just not the same over the phone. Oftentimes, we will talk about our days in the afternoon/evening and that information comes out in snippets. But it's not like I'm going to call again and say "Oh yeah, this happened too" or "this was funny today at work..." or whatever. We don't remember everything about our days that we would like to share with one another when we are actually having our phone conversations in the evening. This makes that emotional connecting not as close or as easy as we would both like.

Last week, Mary called me and it was around 10 pm in Idaho. She said that Sarah had been crying on and off since she had gone to bed around 8ish. So, I talked to her on the phone and talked about how I missed her and such. When I asked her "What is it that you miss about me" she seemed confused by my question. When I clarified my question she said "I just miss YOU Daddy!" I really miss her too!

Today, I called my family after church and was speaking with Mary and then Jane came in the room. Mary put me on speaker phone so that she and Jane could both talk to me. Nathan was in a different room and didn't know that Mary was on the phone with me. He heard my voice and yelped, excitedly "Daddy's home!" and then got pretty sad when he came in to the room and saw that his mom and sister were on the phone with me. Mary had to do some comforting of a sad little boy.

I sure miss that cute family of mine. I pray that our house will sale soon....

To bridge some of this gap and let my kids know that I'm thinking of them, I have written them a couple of letters to each of them individually. I think they'll get one tomorrow or Tues. We also enjoy occasionally talking via Skype. I usually get goofy faces from Nathan and Jane can't stay in the picture, but otherwise it's fun.