Fun with Friends and Back to Work

I returned to work from an almost 7-week hiatus. My return was bittersweet, but for the most part, I would say I was glad to be back. During my last week of leave, I started to get a little bored. I finished all of my little "projects" and found myself with little to do. I guess it was time to get back.

I have not had much time to dwell on Emma's loss this week, as work has kept me incredibly busy. I guess this is good, as it is very nice and very necessary to shift my focus back to "normal." I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to take six weeks to slow down and grieve for Emma, but I am also grateful for the distraction that work provides. It is good to be back to my old routine again, even if I am coming back to it a very changed person.

The weekend prior to returning to work I got the chance to visit my friend Dena. We had a fun "girl's weekend" with several other girls, most of them good friends from Fort Riley. We rented a limo, went wine tasting, cooked, talked and jumped on Dena's trampoline. Most important, we took the opportunity to wrap our arms around our dear friend Dena and remind her that she is a part of our Army family.

Kelly and I take a break.A little afternoon exercise....

Just us girls....

We picked an appropriate weekend to get together, as Memorial Day offered us the opportunity to honor Rob and the sacrifice that he made for our freedom. On Memorial Day we drove to Osceola, Nebraska to visit Rob's grave and attend a Memorial Day ceremony. I could not go through that experience without thinking about the cost of freedom and the sacrifice that so many of our Soldiers have made. As I watched Dena lay a wreath on her husband's grave and Julia place a flower with a note to Daddy, I was profoundly touched by the sacrifice that Rob made for all of us. No longer is Memorial Day about honoring a mass of faceless Soldiers. From now on I will always be touched by memorializing someone who was dear to my heart. This Memorial Day reminded me that though our great wars through history have produced a painfully long list of Soldiers who have paid the ultimate price for freedom, each one of these Soldiers has a family, a personal history and a story of love and loss. I feel as if Rob's story was written on the faces of Dena, Julia and Eva as they visited his grave this Memorial Day. I will never forget.

At this time of year, please remember to pray for our Soldiers and their families.

Mother's Day

We have had a very busy week! First, Tim took command on Wednesday, May 6. He is now "Easy 6" and enjoying his first few long days of command. He was pretty surprised by taking command so early, but he is excited about the mission that he will have and the opportunity to build up a company from scratch. Right now his company is very small and mostly does a training mission. In many ways, his command experience has been a lot like mine in the types of challenges he faces. This makes for good professional dinnertime discussion. It's great to be married to another commander sometimes!

This weekend we took it easy for a few days and recovered from the excitement of the week. Tim and I went shopping for some beads so I could make a bracelet in memory of Emma. I bought a set of bracelets before her funeral and sent one with her, and kept one for myself. Unfortunately, my bracelet is starting to get worn out, so I needed to make another one. This was sort of my Mother's Day gift to myself. It was therapeutic to make a piece of jewelry to help me remember the child we lost this year. I was grateful for Tim's help as well. He stayed up with me until 11:30 at night trying to get the latch on my bracelet attached properly. What a guy!

I also got a chance to get a nice, long run in on Saturday. I did a 10K trail run on my own. I enjoyed the workout and the time to myself to focus on nothing but running. It was a great way to prepare for Mother's Day.

On Sunday, we went to church and then did some shopping. There was some drama attached to my Mother's Day gift, which I will accept full responsibility for. While I was running on Saturday, Tim took Timmy and the two of them caught a Coach purse sale (yes, you read that right...not only did Tim buy me a Coach purse, he also managed a rare opportunity to get it ON SALE. This was a two-hour special, so it really took some planning on Tim's part). On Mother's Day, Tim presented me with a Coach purse. At first I wasn't really sure how I liked the purse he picked. So, we decided to go back to the store after church to look at the other purses (no longer on sale). We ended up returning the purse Tim picked, until I felt guilty about that as well. I decided I liked the purse and wanted to buy it back again. So, the next morning I went back to the store and created a little bit of drama about getting the purse back. Luckily, I prevailed over the sales associate with zero customer service ability, and I left the store happily clutching my new purse. I'm thrilled and have included a picture of my first "real" purse.

The other pictures are of Timmy. I have been blessed to have some extra time with him lately and I have really enjoyed it. He has such a cute little personality that he can always bring a smile to my face. The pictures taken in the bathroom were very typical of Timmy's antics. He has taken to wearing a pair of sunglasses that a little girl left at our house. He wears them everywhere...to include the bathroom. I bought Timmy a little stepstool on Saturday, which he immediately started pretending was his own "toilet." (It may be time to start thinking about potty training). He went through all of the motions, to include unrolling toilet paper. I was pretty impressed, but I couldn't do anything but laugh because he went through this whole routine with his "Hollywood" sunglasses on. Such a ham! I don't know where I'd be without Timmy to brighten my days. He's so much fun to be around!