Deployment Rules
As I write this my son woke up at 3 am and is now refusing to go back to sleep. Of course, I planned on driving to a waterpark today, so why wouldn’t he wake up early? To handle this, I brought him into my bed and put the TV on because…. “Deployment Rules”.
It’s been over two months since my husband, Chris, deployed and I’ve entered what I like to call “Deployment Rules”. No, I’m not saying deployment is awesome. I’m saying, I now give myself leeway when we have a tough day, which is more often than I care to admit.
We are both going through a lot, my son and I.
He’s a toddler, which is probably hard enough without having to be a toddler without his dad. And I chose to go through IVF while my husband is deployed, because why wouldn’t you?
So we both have some big emotions that we’re working through. And will probably continue working through our emotions until Chris gets back. We’ve had lots of discussions about feelings.
Albeit some of these discussions may have been at an escalated volume…
We’ve also had “couch parenting” days, where my son watches too much TV while I try to keep my grip on sanity. And I’ve gotten into a bad habit of feeding my son something quick and easy for dinner and then eating my dinner after bedtime.
These are just some of the things I can tackle when I’m no longer the only one making all the decisions and doing all the things. I keep trying to get a babysitter for a night to myself. And I think this will happen more after summer.
I’m hoping I’ll be better at planning once I can’t just walk outside and find neighborhood kids for my son to play with.
And I get that we should always give ourselves grace. But this is a whole lotta grace, back to back to back. Therefore, I’m gonna stick with “Deployment Rules”.
If you’re going through a tough season, know that you’re not alone. And that this won’t last forever.
*For more wit and wisdom from Annie, visit her on the AWN website.
