Interrupted
My Life Thus Far
A Thousand Moons Ago
It's after 5am, but surprisingly I don't feel as dead as one would expect. I suppose I'm riding a high. Dad came home last night! He's different. As crazy as it sounds, the harshness of Alaska seems to have softened him around the edges. He's different, but it's in a good way. I'm glad to have him home.
I had a 1:30-6pm shift with a 6-10 extension, but with payroll being a mess and it being a slow day, they didn't use it. This was good, because even though I told myself I wasn't going to make a big deal out of dad coming home, I started thinking of half a million things I needed to get done around the house. And I needed to go grocery shopping. I wrote out a very detailed to do list for the kids (narrowing it down to the 5 things I felt needed to get done the most) and I hit up Grocery Outlet and Target for food staples. I had just enough time to rush home, put the groceries away, check the kids' cleaning job, and then turn around and head to the airport to pick dad up.
I got there 11pm on the nose. Dad's flight was supposed to land at 11:07pm, but it ended up getting delayed until 11:27pm, but he didn't make it to baggage claim until closer to midnight. Thank goodness I'm a nocturnal person by nature. I just played on my phone while I waited... and people watched. There's some good people watching to be had sitting in the airport.
My first thought when I saw him was how skinny he's become. I knew it would be grueling work. I knew he'd come back a little worn out, but I hadn't anticipated just how different he'd look. He also let his hair grow out. He looks like a true Alaskan adventurer. We hugged, and it was like no time had passed, and yet so much has happened over the summer. May seems like a thousand moons ago.
The drive home, I filled him in on everything he missed out on over the summer. I told him about what's been going on between Snookums and I. Told him about all the goings on the kids have been getting into. He listened quietly. He's good at that. I felt a little selfish burdening him with my issues, so I asked him what it was like up there and listened to some of his stories about the strenuous job he was given. It almost sounded like everyone expected him to fail (because of his age), but he didn't. I think it did his psyche some good, surviving this brutal job men decades younger than him have failed at.
Annie was up when we got home. She's hopelessly nocturnal as well, and dad is still accustomed to his graveyard shift schedule, so we hung out in the kitchen talking, drinking coffee, and catching up. It was great. Did I mention I'm so glad to have him home? He'll be leaving again in a couple days to attend my brother's wedding. Then he's going to San Diego to visit friends before coming home. It sucks, having him leave so soon after getting back, but ultimately I know this is home for him now. He'll come back. After not having him in my life for so long (growing up), I feel even more determined to keep him close to me now. My little hint of co-dependency :)
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