3 Weeks: How We're Doing

It's been three weeks since we said goodbye to Kevin at BWI. That still sounds like such a short period of time, but it feels more comparable to a lifetime at this point.  I can't wait until I'm giving a three month update, rather than a three week one.  Crazy that at that point we'll be well into the holiday season, and I'll be almost finished with my first semester back at school.

I have to say, the weekdays go by pretty fast and don't seem to bother me much.  I drop Kerriann off most mornings and then get started on whatever homework or studying I have due in the near future.  I keep busy all day between school tasks and breaks for cleaning, errands and of course eating.  Factor in all of the travel time between running her to school and back and driving to class, parking, walking to class, etc. and it feels like I still don't have enough time in the day to do everything I should be doing.  After I pick her up from school in the evenings we usually just eat dinner, watch a little TV, take a bath and then I put her to bed.  Nothing too exciting.  I'm not complaining though, I like the routine that we have going now.

The weekends are what seem to be the hardest for me.  Friday I don't have class, but I usually send Kerriann to school anyways so I can study or clean because I'm not able to get much done on Saturday and Sunday while she's home.  She doesn't nap for me, but she usually naps for her teachers at school, go figure ;).

We try to keep busy on the weekends, but that's easier said than done.  I feel like I'd be happier if I just deactivated my Facebook and Twitter accounts Friday-Monday so I don't have to see what everyone else is doing.  My single friends are sleeping in, and staying out late, while my married friends are spending time with their husbands and/or kids.  It's just hard.  And it's not that I'm mad at my friends for having fun, it's just not easy to hear all about the fun everyone else is having from the sidelines.  I hate to get all Debbie-Downer and complain about this, but it's definitely been the hardest part for me so far.

I think I had unrealistic expectations about moving back to West Virginia which is part of the problem.  I wrongly assumed that I would have friends around, all the time, and that just hasn't been the case.  I have seen a few people briefly (which has been great of course and I'm so thankful for those moments), but I miss the way things were when I lived here before.  I always had people stopping by to visit and I had a hard time finding alone time when I wanted it.  Now it is the opposite.  But I know that everyone else is just really busy and most times people are only in town for a short period of time.  I don't blame them for wanting to go out and experience the Morgantown that we all remember from undergrad.  Again, it's just hard feeling like you're the only one stuck at home alone on a Saturday.

This weekend I'm going to make more of an effort to plan activities ahead of time to get us out of the house.  I've been wanting to make a trip to Pittsburgh for a little shopping at the outlets so this might be the perfect time.  Hopefully Kevin won't talk me out of it after seeing my intentions here ;).  Kerriann has  really been going through a major growth spurt lately which means she has outgrown almost everything she owns, including her shoes.  Plus, we need to work on her winter wardrobe as she's officially outgrown all of the clothes that she's received as gifts and hand-me-downs over the past two years.

Sunday we will go to mass again at St. Francis as long as Kerriann is in a decent mood.  Maybe we will start a Sunday brunch ritual for after mass or something.  I need to work on recruiting other Catholics in the area to come with me (cough, cough, Christiane).

I've talked enough about myself, now let's move onto Kerriann.  She has actually been doing really well so far.  She of course still talks about Kevin, but we haven't had any major meltdowns yet due to him being gone.  When we go places she associates with him it can get a little hard (probably more so for me than for her).  Last week when we went to Chick-Fil-A she said "Daddy meet us here" because we used to meet him there for lunch.  At church on Sunday she pointed to the empty spot beside her and said "Daddy's going to sit here."  I just try to explain to her that Kevin is on a long trip for work.  She usually then says "I'm going on a trip too" or something along those lines, but she drops the subject without getting upset which I am so thankful for.

The past few days I've been working on unpacking our framed photos and wall art (finally...I know...) and she has really been enjoying seeing all of our family photos.  She loves pointing to our engagement pictures and saying "That's Mommy and Daddy!"  She's also a big fan of the group shot of both of our families at her baptism.  She can name every single person which I think is huge, especially considering she doesn't see a few of them that often.  This has been a sign to me that I really need to get our walls covered with lots of pictures of Kevin so she can see his face every day.

And that is our "How We're Doing" update for now.  We're definitely doing fine, but it's still not easy.  We're just working on taking this deployment one day at a time.

And we're always accepting visitors, so please stop by if you're in town and have free time!  We'd love to see you and show off our new home! :)