Home Early

It really is the little things that can make a "so-so" day absolutely wonderful. I called the husband last night around 5:30 for an expected time home (to plan dinner accordingly). He informed me it would be within the next two hours. That is a good, by the usual standard, so I wasn't complaining, and I figured I had a bit more time to goof off before starting dinner. Silly me, he was home less than thirty minutes later. I still had to run to the grocery store for some supplies, but promptly did so when he came home, and dinner was fantastic. We had scallops, and they turned out amazing. Yes I cooked them, but they were good scallops before I had anything to do with them.

Its these evenings that are nice, and are somewhat reminiscent of the "old days" when we got to spend every evening together, and we were not cramming togetherness time into the few precious hours between the late evenings at work and early bedtimes. This will all be over soon, but I will enjoy it while it lasts!

Birthdays

A friend of mine called on me last week because her birthday was coming up, and her hubby was gone. We had a fun dinner at my house, and then an impromptu trip to Mohegan sun. We didn't win anything, but fun was had by all, and hopefully she had a special day.

Birthdays in my family have always been important. I think of a birthday as your own personal holdiay. Everyone celebrates differently, but in my family growing up, one of the birthday traditions was getting to choose every meal for the day. This wasn't quite as much of a treat for mom, as it was for the kids, and now that I do most of the cooking its not such a big deal, because I choose the meals every day. But as twelve year old, it was nice getting whatever you wanted for the day.

Even though, I will probably spend my next birthday alone, I am lucky to have a fantastic group of friends who be there to make sure my birthday is not a lonely day!

Lonely Evenings

Drew is working overnight tonight. He says he is not an "EDO," but an "EOOW". Those terms stand for Engineering Duty Officer, and Engineering Officer of the Watch. Supposedly there is a difference, but I don't quite understand it, other than EDO is usually when the boat is in port, and I get far fewer phone calls from him at work when he is the EOOW.

He left me and the dog here to watch the boob tube tonight. The dog is asleep on the couch, and I am sure to follow soon, but I think about all the women who are sitting at home alone tonight. A friend's husband recently left to go back to the sandbox. He was home for a few weeks for RnR. She is alone tonight. I sometimes get annoyed when people think that it is only the service member making a sacrifice for their country. Obviously I have not signed a contract for service to my country, but I think I get a pretty raw deal in the situation. I have made the decision to love and commit to a navy man, and although my contract is with him and not with the Department of Defense, my life is subject to the radical results of the decisions of people I have no way to influence. I am annoyed to hear the answer "based on the needs of the navy" to way to many questions. I am annoyed that I cannot plan a date with my husband more than a week out, and it is very unnerving to think that I will be living somewhere new in two or three years, and I have no idea where that might be.

I constantly remind myself that noone really knows where they will be three years from now, but honestly, I will have no control when that time comes around. I might be lucky if I can chose the date the movers come pack me out. I am not complaining about having to move, I just wish I could see the day where moving is my decision, and I have more than 14 days to decide where I am going to live for the next three years.

I can go to sleep tonight, and look forward to the husband coming home sometime before I head off to work, but he will be gone again before I get home. I know that his work is difficult, and his days are much longer than mine, but I wonder if he understands what is like always to be waiting.

Who's Your Daddy?

I was happily surprised yesterday when I got the mail. I ordered copies of death certificates from the State of NY Vital Records, for two children who passed away in 1893. My ancestors, Henry Bierweiler and Louisa Dewald were listed on the 1900 Census, and were enumerated has having two children who were not living in 1900. My quest was to find more information about these children, their names, causes of death, birth dates, death dates, and whatever I could track down.

The death certificates that I ordered copies were written for a Katie and Willie Bierweiler. When I found these names, the only information that accompanied was the death dates, ages at death, and that they died in Manhattan. But their death dates, and ages "fit" within the possible family plan of Henry and Lousia's children, and the few "Bierweiler" residents of the greater NYC area of the early 1900's would leave only a few possible choices. I eagerly opened my mail. Sure enough, in Brown, black and white were the causes of death for little Katie and Willie. Also listed were their parents! As suspected Henry and Lousia lost Katie and Willie at the ages of five and seven years respectively. My next tast for Katie and Willie will be to find the local newspaper, and see if an obituary is available, perhaps listing more information about the family.

I am somewhat addicted to my research at this point. I will say, it is not my fault, but it is also not an unhealthy addiction. It is very satisfying to uncover these little mysteries about the people that I am apart of. These people walked the same walk that I walk each day. They faced the same types of daily adventures that I anticipate, fear, and shed tears...going to school, having a best friend, dating, and building a marriage, and losing loved ones. It hardly seems justified that the only thing I know about their lives are their birthdates, death dates, and where they lived every ten years.

I often think now, about how I am living each day, and how my great great grandchildren will be able to track me down and learn about my life. Everyone dreams of immortality, but can it be acheived through research? I want to think that my life will warrant more than one page of information. There is so much more to me than my birth, death and marriage date. So far, I know that I should appear on the 1990 and 2000 census. Two tiny entries of the millions who have been counted in those years. I wonder, how I can be found, amongst my many years of moving. I find it difficult to find my ancestors who are living in the same place from year to year. I can only imagine how difficult it will be to figure out why I moved from Oregon, to Florida, to SC, and the CT, and how I met my husband who was from a small town in Pennsylvania. I am anxious to fill out the next Census in 2010, and will be sure to list as much information as I can fit. One hundred years from now, I want my great great granddaughter to read that census record and say wow!

Voicemail

Its interesting to think about all the things to consider when leaving a voicemail. Usually when going about my daily routine, I don't often think about that seven second message I left for my husband to grab milk on the way home, or that quick voicemail to my boss asking if she could call me when she gets a chance. But there are important messages that get left everyday, that do require some editing.

Every now and then I find myself, listening to my message, and depending on its purpose, I may "re-record". Usually I do this when it is an important message, or I found myself losing my thoughts, or stuttering over a number. I think its actually a very nice feature, and underused. I used it today when leaving an important message for a colleage. I used way to many vocal stalls in my first message, and decided it would leave a slightly better professional impression if I could get through 19 Seconds of information without saying "ah"!

When Drew was in OCS, I would find myself listening to my messages, and re-recording, then listening, recording again, and again until I knew the message was perfect. Back then, and now the husband doesn't really care one way or another if the message is white noise, screaming or requesting a run to the grocery store, but its funny to think I tricked him into marrying me by perfecting my voicemails.

Cookies

I went to see Drew on duty last night. I brought him dinner, and neglected to bring cookies, much to the dismay of the duty section. I told Drew early in the day to tell them I was not bringing cookies, because I knew I would feel bad if they were expecting it, but they still gave me a hard time for the lack of sweets. Or perhaps they gave Drew a hard time, I am not quite sure which, but I still felt guilty.

Drew has duty again Friday, and I told the guys that I would bring them dessert that night, hopefully, it will meet their high standards. I have a wardroom dinner that night. It is nice to have something to look forward to. I enjoy these evenings out, especially on the nights when I would otherwise be home alone, trying to figure out how to enjoy a Friday night.

Weekend In Florida

I had a fantastic weekend in Florida. It was great to go down and see some some college chums, plus, of course to celebrate Susie's Bridal shower. I am very happy to be at home, but severely lacking on sleep. Two late night flights in three days is something I will think about before I schedule again.

I am looking forward to a busy week this week. I don't quite know why I am excited about the business, and I will probably think differently this weekend.

Jobless

Well, I am not jobless quite yet, but there is a date. I am not sure if I have decided quite how I feel about this yet. Part of me is somewhat relived. I didn't realize that when I wished for a vacation it would come in the form of a pink slip, but this also will give me the chance to pursue some other goals.

Sometimes part of me feels that each day is more of the same, but I have a unique opportunity to try something new, and to look for new adventures. Groton is only another year and a half, and I don't quite have a real plan yet for my next step, but Drew seems very supportive of my need for a little time off.

The Wednesdays

Today I read an article about blogging, so I decided to give it another shot. No one is dying, but sometimes I feel like I need to better express my feelings, and perhaps I should join the 12 million other bloggers who have found some peace with this method.

Each morning, it seems that I wake up wondering what is going to be thrown my way. I like to think that each day is a new start, but sometimes I wake up and wonder where is each day is going. This morning, I woke up exhausted. I hate these days that I wake up feeling more tired then when I went to sleep.

I attempted to get to work early this morning to clean up my office, and prepare for my long day ahead of me, but was hampered by my lack of keys. I called the hubby because I was sure that I had left my keys in his car last night, but in the process made him late for work as well. Fortunately he loves me enough, he turned around after he had driven on base and came home. The keys were not there and I later discovered that I left them in Harford last night. I felt horribly for dragging Drew back to the house, but love that he came.

Tonight hopefully Drew will come home at a normal time. I love when he does, I feel like we can enjoy the evening together. I plan to cook dinner tonight. I think I will make spaghetti. It has been a while since I have cooked that, but Drew loves it, and I know it will make the evening better.