I Never did get this posted... I think it was because I never got the pictures. Oh well hope you enjoy.
How I Made It Home For The Holiday
I was just over 600 miles away from my wife and children with no way to reach them. I could always fly, I thought. No, I would never be able to justify the cost of the ticket, after all I did just fly up to see Tamy and the kids in OK during ASBC in August. A rather useful skill of mine is the ability to get what I want. In the past this has been useful in getting the same schedule as my friend in middle school, tricking my wife into marriage, and manipulating others around me into buying products I really enjoy: like a $50.00 computer game, or $100.00 in video games. But lest my talent diminish, I have been at hard work developing it this year. Now I can include a coworker giving me their X-Box 360 and hitching a ride to South Carolina to the list.
There were 2 people that I knew of that I could ask for a ride over Thanksgiving. One was single so his "home" was not SC. The other had decided it wasn't worth it to go down over the holidays. Here is where I come in. You see the Air Force has strict rules about how far you can travel in a single day before you need to stop and rest. Doing a 12 hour drive by yourself doesn't fit under those rules. But, driving "600 miles" with 2 drivers changes everything. What before would have been a 2 day journey now was possible in one night. With that it was a done deal. The other guy was just as anxious as I was to get home and be with his family.
It was my intention to not say anything to Tamy and just surprise her on Thanksgiving, but what works in the movies doesn't translate to reality very well. If I left Wednesday afternoon then I would arrive at home sometime after midnight and I didn't have a key... Who then, would let me in? That was a problem, the 2nd issue a ran into was my independent wife was making plans that didn't include me for Thanksgiving- awkward. So I decided it was in my best interest to let Tamy know I would be coming down. I kept her in the dark for almost a week, and on Wednesday before she asked with a sigh, "Is there any hope of you coming to see us?" I skillfully replied, "Nope, the other guy was having Thanksgiving in another state." Ha, I fooled her! Well, come the Friday before Thanksgiving the gig was up, I let her in on my secret. I never could keep secrets from her.
Home
I LOVED being home. Sitting on my new couch with my speakers and TV/PS3... I mean being able to hug my kids and kiss my wife was great! Joseph is so much fun to hold and play with, he always has such a big grin on. Evie is just adorable and very independent, her smile just makes you melt, and then its off to play with her plates and cups and ponies etc... But I cannot tell a lie, I must of all love basking in the presence of my wife. Just touching her makes all my troubles melt away. O.K. I'm getting a bit sappy. One thing I can say with assurance and experience, if you have a strong relationship then absence does make the heart grow fonder. But you know what happens to that "fondness" when you met up again? It comes crashing back down to reality:)
I spent my first morning waking up to my children on the bed, there is absolutely no better way to wake up! As Tamy explained we had a great Thanksgiving at a friend's house and played one of our "games" for the first time since last Christmas. I even pulled off an hour Thanksgiving nap.
The Hidden Park
The day after Thanksgiving I located a park that had eluded my industrious wife. How did I accomplish such a feat in a single swoop? One word: iphone. Yep that's right the modern day swiss army knife. Didn't you know, there is an app for everything. Have a friend that likes guns try the gun app, want to play Russian Roulette without killing yourself, there is an app for that too. Lose a wedding band? Don't worry there is a metal detector app as well. Need to find a magically hidden park? Look no further than your iphone- it only does everything!
And find a park it did! The kids had a great time. Evie dominated the playground and it was so funny to watch Joseph get on all fours when he crossed over a platform with holes- fraidy cat. He even is going down the slide all by himself. Evie is in the process of learning how to "pump" her legs when she swings. My personal goal is to have her swinging by herself before Summer. Anytime Evie sees a new tool or apparatus in a park she is immediately drawn to it like a moth to the flame, especially if there are big kids playing on it already. Man she is in a hurry to grow up. Her favorite line is "When a get older I'll be big and strong so I can go down the big blue slide!" Slow down kiddo. It sure is fun to watch her experiment though.
We ended that day by ditching the kids and hitting the cinema. The cool thing about ditching the kids was it was the first time we had ever had a babysitter come to our house to watch the kids! This time I was the one who said you can use "my" Directv and Netflix along with "my" stereo and speakers. It felt great! Too bad watching a movie here is more like an event! The nicest theater is an hour away! Probably wont be seeing many movies on the big screen over here. That or our babysitter will love us.
So I did my husbandly duty and took my wife to see the new Twilight movie so she wouldn't be the only woman on the planet who hadn't seen it. I will say that although the movie is very much a love story the fighting scenes of vampires and werewolves is pretty cool. It is definitely a unique take on an old idea.
Swan Lake
The next day we went to Swan Lake, Evie got to feed ducks, geese, and swans. She was fearless, probably would have let them eat right off her hand if I hadn't wisely interjected. We had a great mile long walk around this area and then the kids got play at another park! Again they had a great time. I think I slept 3 separate times that day. My beautiful tenderhearted wife called me a wuss. I told her that is not what that word meant but she was having none of that.
On Sunday Tamy gave a beautiful talk in church on how much I rocked, oh and on families and how to keep them strong. Being a military wife definitely comes with some heavy commitments and I am grateful for a firm and assertive wife who can handle anything that is thrown at her (literally too). Once 11:00 am hit the golden carriage turned back into a pumpkin (at least for a few more days) and I hastily returned for another week or so of training.
HOPE YOU ALL HAD A HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!
Remember: Dottie Nix passed away November 30 around 1:00 am
Great Grandmother to Evie & Joseph, Grandmother to Tamy, Daughter to Pam Morris, and Beloved to Henry Nix
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