When I really need him...

In the relationship between my husband and I, there are some things, duties, or jobs that very clearly belong to one or the other of us.

He takes care of the vehicles.

I take care of electronics, all computers and repairs included.

I do most of the cleaning.

He takes care of all plumbing issues. Most generally these issues involve plunging the toilet which is almost always his fault to begin with, but he does take care of my hair clogged drains as well.

See, we have it all worked out like that.

One very important role, is that he is absolutely to take care of all nuisance in the form or bugs, rodents, or otherwise un named icky stuff.

It is with that role I have a problem today.

There is mouse, trapped in my garage, on one of those sticky traps.

I don't deal well with mice. Not well at all. In fact, the moment I saw it, and realized what I was seeing, i fled the scene. I don't just mean I turn around and walked out, but I mean that I beat feet, left my trash laying in the garage, and got the hay up out of there. I would imagine that animators could have used my real life action scene to vividly create a great new Scooby Doo and Shaggy scene.

Anywho, the mouse is still there, because I don't do mice. I don't. I just can't. Now, I imagine that it will need to be taken care of before he comes home. I'm thinking that I'm going to have to beg a favor of a friends. That, or if some random husband happens to walk out, I plan on asking very sweetly if they can help me. I'll even barter with cookies and brownies. I just need it taken care of before I can go back in there.

Please. Someone help.

48/300 = ???

Now, I have to admit, my math skills aren't greatest. I wasn't fond of math in school, and by choice, never applied myself to it.

I however, can do some simple math, and realize that some numbers we were given don't quite add up.

We were just told that we can now schedule a Video Teleconference (VTC) with our spouse.

At this time, and as far as I know for the entire deployment, there are going to be 48 slots open for our command, on 3 different days, one day each of the next few months.

Now, my husband's command has a few hundred people in it. They gave us 48 slots.
So, only a very, very small percentage of the families will actually be able to see and talk to their spouses.

I am pretty upset. I am upset that we may not get a slot, and I am upset for all of the families that won't get a slot, because most of us won't.

I can only hope right now that we are given one of the slots. It is first come first, first served, but our spouses have to be the ones to request the slots. So, I have absolutely no control over getting us in. I can only hope and pray that my husband gets in line first.

I would love to be able to talk to him. I would even take my daughter out of school just to go to the teleconference so that both girls can chat with Daddy. We miss him so much.

Please, please, babe, be fast today, and get this done for us.

Tell Me, Or Don't

Ugg.

Deployments are frustrating. From get to go, top to bottom, they are frustrating, just because of what they are.

I think one of the most frustrating things is the lack of knowledge. While I may have general idea of what my husband is doing, and very general idea of where he is, there isn't much that we can be told. For those who aren't in the know, we call it opsec, Operational Security. You can't ask questions, and they can't tell you anything. Just like I can't tell anything that I do know online. It would jeopardize their safety. I get that, completely, and know going in that it will be frustrating, but that we will just have to do our best to communicate.

However, when your spouse makes them even more frustrating, by telling you cryptic things that you can't figure out, it will drive you insane. My husband has gotten really bad about doing this. Almost every time we talk, he tells me that he has something he wants to tell me, but he can't.

Now what am I supposed to do with that?

Get frustrated and mad. That is what I do with that.

I understand that he wants to talk. I do, too. However, telling me things that can only lead my head to worry, is not a good way to try and talk.

I finally laid it out for him. You either tell me something, or you don't. Don't tell me you did something really cool, but say that you can't do anything else about it. Don't tell me things have changed, but not what things.

You either lay it all out, or you leave me blissfully in the dark.

One or the other.

I don't need additional frustration coming from your desire to share. I keep the fact that I don't sleep or how much I can't sleep, how much of a pain things are, or how difficult things have been to myself to keep you from worrying about us, please have the courtesy to do the same.

Thanks.