In Which I Ramble On About Nothing

I'm amazed at how quickly our lives are changing. Over the past two months Jeremy was wounded in combat, returned to the U.S.A., had surgery, and came home, Connor started school, we made some huge lifestyle changes, received the gift of a beautiful new van, and will in a little less than a month be purchasing our first home. That's rather a lot to cram into a mere eight weeks or so! Already things don't seem nearly as dire and scary as they did when I first got the news-- just like when we got the news about Connor. It's funny because I think of myself as a person who doesn't like change, but being flexible has become surprisingly easy. Maybe this is because I'm a military spouse, or maybe it's because we've got Connor, who likes to test my reaction time by stopping breathing at random moments. Who knows?

That's not to say that the move will be a picnic by any stretch of the imagination. See, Jer and I have moved three or four times by this point, and I know that while we'll start out carefully organized and cheerful, by moving day we'll be totally fed up with the whole thing and each other. I'm still not sure how we avoided killing each other during our six-day move up here from Texas with a six month old and a hysterical cat in the car. Cricket's voice gave out on the third day so it was slightly smoother sailing after that, but it was a close thing. But hopefully this move will go more smoothly than the last one, and either way we'll get through it. I think having the house as a project to work on and keep us busy will be great!

There's about thirty feet worth of English ivy on the side of the house. It's buried a retaining wall, a number of good sized boulders, and is threatening to take over the fence. Taking up all of that stuff is going to take me a good long while, and with the winter weather (ie constant rain) fast coming on I don't know how much fun I'll be having by the end of it, but at least in the beginning it will probably be rather therapeutic to spend some time each day ripping big sections of it out.

It's funny, but I got so used to having copious amounts of quiet time alone with Jeremy gone and Connor down for a nap or with our respite care worker, that I'm missing it in a major way. I'm looking forward to having a project like the landscaping (which Jer has zero interest in) because I can go outside during Connor's nap time equipped with my trusty walkie-talkie and the baby monitor and spend some time out there pretending to be alone and doing something I love while still being accessible if someone in the house needs me.

Jer will probably have plenty to do too, besides his current job of, as he puts it, "laying calcium." He and I have to figure out exactly what we want in the house, he can help put away a lot of things that are on his level or reachable with the help of his trusty grabbing tool, and he can try out the exercise videos I just ordered him: seated tai chi, aerobics, and yoga. The yoga and tai chi aren't really his usual thing, but they'll be good for regaining some flexibility if nothing else. I'm rather intrigued by these videos. We'll see how they are.

Things are really coming together!

~Jess