19 Days and Counting......

My Marine comes home in 19 days and no one is more ready than I am. I miss him terribly. The girls miss him terribly. Even our DOGS miss him terribly!

I've survived though. I've survived an 18-month deployment and other short separations, so 6 weeks really should be like spitting in the ocean. But for some reason, this time was harder and I'm not sure why. Our trials and tribulations have been extremely minor (so far) and while we've had our ups and downs since he's been gone - and we've gotten through it.

Two days after he left, both girls got sick. Shortly after that, I got sick. We've made 5 doctor visits, 4 pharmacy visits, and 1 ER visit during that time.

My kitchen sink faucet started with a slow drip and then graduated to a full-blown leak (which I fixed)

My garage door began it's seasonal fit where it decides to either stick halfway in the cold weather or either not open or close altogether. (My dad gave me some suggestions for that...still working on it)

We had 15-inches (accidentally wrote feet this morning before I had my coffee!) of snow over a 24-hour period which required me to pull both of our vehicles into our garage (which is small) and is something I've never done before. (I did it and both cars survived without a scratch).

After said snowfall, I shoveled our driveway the old-fashioned way and then decided that I was going to ask My Marine for a snowblower for Christmas. (I will NEVER shovel that much snow ever again!)

I survived taking our Jeep in to have a new radio installed after a CD got stuck and could not be removed, no matter how much I tried to "persuade" it.

As a "single mom", I took both girls Trick-or-Treating at the zoo and around our neighborhood and took Nani to her ballet recital - both times taking LOTS of pictures for daddy.

I was so blessed to have two very good friends bring me & the girls a meal while I was sick. I am still praising God for those dear friends!

And I still have 19 days to go!

But in spite of those little things that we call "life happens" -- I'm still not sleeping. Usually when My Marine goes away, it takes me a couple days to get comfortable with the fact that I'm sleeping alone in the house. But this time, for whatever reason, I'm up -- all the time.....all night. Catching maybe an hour or two of sleep in between my bouts of nightly insomnia. I've tried the hot bath, warm milk, herbal tea, soft music....but nothing is working. And I'm running on fumes....

Nothing short of having My Marine home and snoring next to me again may get me to sleep at least 4 straight hours!!