Reality Check

It was back to the real world for me this morning. I am so tired. My plane landed at 9:30 local time, but I was still on CA time (7:30). By the time I got my luggage and got home, it was 10:30. After I unpacked and cleaned up a bit, changed Ron’s dressing, and got to bed it was midnight. I slept really well until about 3:30 and then again until 7:15.

Yesterday was such a bittersweet day. I was looking forward to coming home to see the rest of my family, but hated to leave Shaun, Jenny, Alexander, and my “new” family. I got all teary-eyed saying good-bye to Thomas and Tina yesterday (plus Kim, Cindy, and Wesley) before I even had to say good-bye to Shaun, Jenny, and Alexander.

It was very obvious during my stay how much they love Alexander. Alexander is really going to miss them (and vice versa) but I’m sure that Thomas and Tina will be back in the US as often as possible to visit with them.

I’ve invited them to Wichita for Easter and I hope they’re able to come. We have several birthdays in April, including Jenny, Amy, Shaun, and Isaiah so it would be nice to be able to celebrate them all at once (even though Shaun will be on deployment). Thomas and Tina can take Amy’s bedroom; Jenny and Alexander can take Isaiah’s bedroom. (Amy and Isaiah can take my room.) They’ll have a private bathroom there and if we’re lucky and it’s finished, access to a little kitchenette with a stove top, fridge, sink, and microwave. If Cindy and Wesley come, we can figure something else out for them, even if it’s air mattresses in the family room. Jenny said earlier that when they come they plan on getting a hotel so they don’t put me to any extra trouble, but I want a chance to at least try to be as good of a hostess as Tina was.

I feel so badly for Jenny. I know she’s going to really miss being so close to her family. Shaun leaves on deployment the 19th of January and her family goes back to Taiwan on the 10th for the Chinese New Year. I wish I could afford to make a couple of Friday to Monday trips after Shaun leaves and before Tina is able to come back to stay some with her. I could take the PTO but can’t afford the cost of the tickets to do that. (I do need to watch my PTO usage because I can’t use any more FML until March and I want to be sure to have a week when Shaun returns – and the baby is born.)

Oh well… back to the drawing board.