Reaching the finish line. . .

The Long, Long Mile

Well, my husband got home last night and we are "nearing normality" to quote Eddie, the shipboard computer (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.) Marley was thrilled to have her daddy home, especially since he came home bearing chocolates in a box with the Statue of Liberty on it. She is all about "Liberty" right now. Her class has one of those giant picture books which talks about how Lady Liberty was created and brought to America. During morning reading time, Marley drags that book over and asks for me to read it to her. She loved the stars and stripes, foil-wrapped, chocolate, too!

Colin is happy to have dad home because it means mom will settle down some. He was so great this week. He and I had joked about how long it would take for me to have a meltdown. He thought Wednesday was a good bet. If you've been reading along this last week, you'll know it was challenging with many antics from my little princess and 7 hours of vomiting from Colin. Through it all, Colin cooperated and, for the most part, (He is 13, let's be realistic.) kept backtalk to a minimum. Even sick, he was an easy patient. Yesterday afternoon, I finally did it. [Insert meltdown imagery here.] Without going into too many details, Marley and I had it out in the afternoon, then, after returning home from our small group, I was very short-tempered with my son. Later, I asked him to join me in my room. I apologized and said that the week had been hard. I told him that I appreciated all he had done for me this week. He said it was like running the mile. It is hard and you do your best but at the end it gets harder and you don't think you can do it. What a guy! I feel like that was a gift to me to have my son accept my apology and contextualize it with a perfect metaphor. It makes me want to cry (good, proud, choking back tears crying.)

On another note, I was "tagged" with the Indie Virus by Mel of Actual Unretouched Photo. The purpose of the Indie Virus is to bring attention to lesser known blogs. I was so surprised to see my name and blog on Mel's post but there it was for all the eworld to see. So, it is my turn to reciprocate. I went to the Technorati website to look at the top 100 and decided my first infection will be t.f.boggs, a soldier in Iraq who has some things to share. His blog, while different than the other blogs I connect to, is a good one for people to read. Whether or not you agree with his take on the war in Iraq, I am impressed with this 23 year old man on his second tour of duty and his desire to share his perspective. Madeleine L'Engle wrote once that it takes something specific to get to us. "The Homeless" is this big, faceless problem. Coming face to face with someone on the street is a different story. Knowing there are thousands of soldiers in Iraq is one thing, hearing the story of one particular young man brings it to home and to heart.

Until next time. . .