The Big D: The Kids

16 April
I can't begin to describe how much I dreaded telling our kids. They had been through so much already with having my husband gone for the last six months for BCT/AIT, moving away from family, starting a new school and now THIS?!?! I felt horrible for dumping this on them on top of everything else. The main thing I can say is that I act normal. I get up every morning on time, I keep the usual routine, I take them out for ice cream every once in a while, and maybe the biggest thing I do is to just expect them to be fine. If I'm not tip-toeing around them, waiting for them to have a mental breakdown, I guess I hope it won't occur to them to have one, ya know?

That's not to say that everything is just fine and peachy. My 7 year old (my middle one, tends to internalize things and take things to heart--she's the one who's always homesick) started complaining of tummy problems last night at bedtime. I gave her a puke bucket and let her be. (I'm not very sympathetic, lol). She never got sick and went to school the next morning. The nurse called me later in the day and the convo went something like this:

Her: I'm calling because your daughter came in complaining of an upset stomach.
Me: Crap. She WAS sick. Er...um...yeah, she was having problems last night.
Her: She was also complaining of a pain in her ankle.
Me: Really?
Her: She also said bad things seem to keep happening ever since she moved here.
Me. Huh?
Her: Look, my husband is deployed too and I recognized some things when I was talking to her. I asked her if Daddy was gone and she said yes. I asked how long and she said, 'about a month.' I asked if she'd like to talk to Miss Emma, the school counselor. Would it be all right with you if she did?
Me: Oh, sweet mother of relief. Yes. Please, have her talk to Miss Emma. That would help her out sooo much. Thank you, thank you, thank you for seeing that she needed someone to talk to.

What a blessing to my family, right?!? I'm so thankful for the school and their familiarity with deployment and military issues. And for the fact that the Army takes this seriously and makes sure counseling is available for people who need it. They don't want families back home falling apart while Daddy's away.