30 days down....

Tory has been gone exactly one month now. I have been very fortunate to have lots of help this past month. My mother-in-law spent the first week here and then my mom came out for nearly two weeks and left to go home today. It is amazing what a difference it makes having a second person around to help out, watch the kids, play with the dog, and just to have another adult in the same house. All of the random odds and ends and unfinished projects are pretty much taken care of which is so nice.

The usual antics of Tory being gone have re-emerged. The one light bulb I can not not possibly change has burned out, the computer has crashed several times and now won't restart once you shut it down (so it is apparently going to be turned on for four months straight), the kids are both sick, the weeds overtook the front yard seemingly overnight.

I talk to Tory everyday via email which has been nice. So he gets the rundown of what we have been doing and can answer the random questions that come up (where do we keep extra line for the lawn edger??). We had planned on using the webcams to talk as well, but that has been more frustrating than helpful most times. The connection is really slow so they lock up and its been rare that the voice and webcam will work at the same time. Andrew gets so upset: "I can't hear daddy" "I can't see daddy" "Daddy's picture is frozen on the screen". For a four year old he knows way too much about instant messenger, webcams, microphones, etc. And Emily is rarely awake when we try them so Tory hasn't seen much of her except for pictures I send him. We can talk by phone but "morale calls" are limited in time, and with an 11-hour time difference and Tory working really long hours it does not always work out to talk.

Tory is doing fine. He is working 12-14 hours a day and has only had a day or two off the entire month. He seems to have figured out the politics of the base and what he is responsible for so I think he is more at ease now. He has gone to the US Embassy a few times and into the city once or twice for work. Hopefully this next month he will get some time for something at least marginally fun. They have a gym, a pool, a recreation center and movie theater on base but he hasn't had much time to take advantage of them. He did watch the Super Bowl though.

So all-in-all everyone is hanging in. I don't think I would want to sustain this for a year, but I think 4-1/2 months is manageable. It sucks, but its doable. I have great friends who keep me entertained and out of trouble and the kids keep me more than busy.

So, one month down.... 3 more to go.