A year

It was exactly one year ago today that Josh left for his 6-month deployment to Afghanistan. I went back and read the post I wrote that day and got a little teary-eyed when I remembered the way it felt to say goodbye. It also gave me a craving for Oreo middles, but I'm resisting. Trying to drop a few pounds, you know. I'm doing it the healthy way-- replacing meals with coffee and hoping the jittering counts as activity.

What a crazy year it's been! He was gone, the kids and I traveled quite a bit, and then there was a whirlwind of activity as Josh arrived home and just a couple weeks later we were moving across the country.
Now we are making preparations for an even bigger move.

Plans are starting to come together a little bit. Since our report date for Spain is in early January, we're hoping to be able to make it back to Michigan along the way and see our family once more before heading overseas.

(And maybe pawn our van off in one of their garages. Dad? Mom? Got room for a swagger wagon to hang for a year and a half?)

The last time that Josh was home was for his sister's wedding-- which was on the same day that Derek turned 2 years old. So, I'd say he's long overdue to see his family. I've been back several times during those 3-plus years, but it's always been when Josh was out of the country.

If those plans work out, we'll be packing up here sometime in December and saying adios to Monterey before the year is out. 


And let's recap this week, shall we?

- On Monday, I was flossing Alex's teeth and noticed that something looked wrong with her upper back molars-- the teeth that are the anchors for her palatal expander. They were pushed out of line and angled funny. How had I missed this over the last month?
She already had an appointment scheduled for the next day, so I spent the rest of the night googling "when expanders go wrong" and picturing her wearing headgear at her wedding to correct the mistake that I hadn't noticed happening.

- On Tuesday, we went to her appointment and were told that everything was perfect.
So there's that.

- Derek accidentally had some papers in his school folder that belonged to another kid in his class.  Either Daniel's parents should be very proud of how advanced their son's writing is, or we need to be working with Derek a little more. Is it wrong to hope that Derek's papers didn't end up in Daniel's folder? Or at least hope that his name was as unrecognizable as the rest of his writing?

- Both kids had regular dentist appointments yesterday. Derek's x-rays show that his teeth will be even more crowded that his sister's.
For Christmas this year, we'll be requesting that he receive no toys; instead you can make a donation to his future orthodontic fund. 

- Last night I had a dream that Josh was having an affair with some hot young Hollywood actress. I woke up mad at him. I might still be a little mad.
Does this happen to anyone else?

Later.