A few weeks ago, A got to make an important call to my father. It went something like this:
Dad: Hello?
A: Hey Dad, guess what!
Dad: What's that?
A: It's a good thing Someday and I are already married. Otherwise you'd have to get out your shotgun because I done knocked up your daughter.
After three long years, it finally happened. I'm due around New Years :)
What's a shotgun wedding?
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Irritable
I've been meaning to blog for several weeks, but I've been bogged down with school and just feeling irritable with humanity in general.
Way back in October I brought up the idea of an info sheet for spouses about what to do in the event of an airline emergency. The idea was well received by the union committee. I gathered questions from other wives, offered my assistance in compiling a document and waited patiently. I FINALLY heard something back and got to see the short document that they developed. What I saw was still in the rough stages, showing edits, but was a good start. It said to check the website for more detailed information, but, of course, I couldn't find anything posted. And although I am happy to have contributed to this project for the good of all pilot spouses, I will still be annoyed if they fail to give me credit for the idea and questions. Especially if the committee gets some kind of overall union recognition for the project.
We went to Wild Adventures theme park last weekend. It was hot as blazes there but we had a good time. Thank goodness A can handle G-forces well, because I couldn't stomach most of the rides that Kidzilla wanted to go on. Boy does that make me feel old. The incredible mass of south Georgia humanity walking around gave us no end to our conversations. I've never seen so many overweight people crammed, sausage like, into unflattering clothing or barely covered in string bikinis. The girls from the Baptist church who were have a teen day at the park had obviously not attended the Sunday School session on modesty. There were also several "Pretty Fly For a White Guy" punks there mouthing off.
I'm managing three classes during the super intense summer semester. I've become accustomed to teachers using PowerPoint presentations and putting the slides online ahead of time. This semester, none of my teachers use them and I'm actually feeling not right about that. It didn't take me long to get dependent on them and forget how to take notes for myself. Even worse is the sheer number of people who spend their time in class texting or on facebook. This is the first semester I have really seen people do this; before I thought it was ridiculous that teachers even had to put NOT to do it in the syllabus. These people are blatant about it! I hear that undergrad classes are even worse about it. Another reason not to go into academia.
After an unseasonably cold winter, we are having an unseasonably hot spring. It's already well into the 90's here. A feels compelled to give me hourly temperature updates, when really the rating of "damn hot out" would be fine. Here's hoping we have a seasonable summer because otherwise I am going to be one miserable girl.
Way back in October I brought up the idea of an info sheet for spouses about what to do in the event of an airline emergency. The idea was well received by the union committee. I gathered questions from other wives, offered my assistance in compiling a document and waited patiently. I FINALLY heard something back and got to see the short document that they developed. What I saw was still in the rough stages, showing edits, but was a good start. It said to check the website for more detailed information, but, of course, I couldn't find anything posted. And although I am happy to have contributed to this project for the good of all pilot spouses, I will still be annoyed if they fail to give me credit for the idea and questions. Especially if the committee gets some kind of overall union recognition for the project.
We went to Wild Adventures theme park last weekend. It was hot as blazes there but we had a good time. Thank goodness A can handle G-forces well, because I couldn't stomach most of the rides that Kidzilla wanted to go on. Boy does that make me feel old. The incredible mass of south Georgia humanity walking around gave us no end to our conversations. I've never seen so many overweight people crammed, sausage like, into unflattering clothing or barely covered in string bikinis. The girls from the Baptist church who were have a teen day at the park had obviously not attended the Sunday School session on modesty. There were also several "Pretty Fly For a White Guy" punks there mouthing off.
I'm managing three classes during the super intense summer semester. I've become accustomed to teachers using PowerPoint presentations and putting the slides online ahead of time. This semester, none of my teachers use them and I'm actually feeling not right about that. It didn't take me long to get dependent on them and forget how to take notes for myself. Even worse is the sheer number of people who spend their time in class texting or on facebook. This is the first semester I have really seen people do this; before I thought it was ridiculous that teachers even had to put NOT to do it in the syllabus. These people are blatant about it! I hear that undergrad classes are even worse about it. Another reason not to go into academia.
After an unseasonably cold winter, we are having an unseasonably hot spring. It's already well into the 90's here. A feels compelled to give me hourly temperature updates, when really the rating of "damn hot out" would be fine. Here's hoping we have a seasonable summer because otherwise I am going to be one miserable girl.
Monday, May 3, 2010
The drama of the student mama
Spring term is finished and I am in my one glorious week off before summer session starts. It was a hectic end to the semester, with a big paper due and then other assignments due right after that. And most of my time was sucked up trying to get all the hours finished up for my internship. I finished up the semester with 433 internship hours and A's in both of my classes. Out of the available 100 points in each class, I missed a total combined 6 points. As a trade off through, I missed all of Kidzilla's cub scout meetings and only made it to 2 out of 8 of his baseball games. Luckily A has been there for him.
The end of this semester has been bittersweet. While I am glad to be done with classes, the end of the term means that several friends are leaving soon. It seems like most of my friends from our housing area will be gone by the end of the summer. The Estonians and Hungarians left in mid April, the Moroccan/Indian couple will head out in July, the Mexican family will return home in August. We did meet a dad with a daughter Kidzilla's age at the laundry room yesterday; they just moved in, but he's got split custody so we may not see them much. Hopefully we'll get a new influx of kids in the fall. I also have to say goodbye to friends I've made in classes that are graduating or are taking another path for the rest of our time in school.
I've got 8 weeks of summer school coming up, which means that all my classes are going to be at double the speed of normal. I have night classes 4 times a week which means I will continue to miss most of Kidzilla's activities. A will be providing childcare and hopefully will be home and not be called to training in the middle of my semester. At this point, we have no back up plan.
Somehow we missed that window of spring where it was just the right temp. The house went from too cold all the time to AC can't possibly keep up. Coming home feels like walking into a sauna. I guess that's what you get when all your windows are on one side of your apt and ventilation requires highly complicated geometric calculations to determine optimal fan placement for airflow. Sleeping at night is impossible without the fan blowing directly on us.
We are still working on collecting paperwork to submit to the FAA and getting through all those hoops. It's not nearly the trouble we had getting everything figured out at the beginning, which is nice. I've purposely stayed out of the loop of the Cal-United merger (UniCal?) although Dad and A have talked about it. It seems exciting for them because it's bringing together the two different companies they are associated with. I hope that soon I can get back to the original intent of this blog- to talk about how airline life effects daily family life instead of just rambling about myself all the time.
Things are going well for us too and there are some real bright spots in our future.
The end of this semester has been bittersweet. While I am glad to be done with classes, the end of the term means that several friends are leaving soon. It seems like most of my friends from our housing area will be gone by the end of the summer. The Estonians and Hungarians left in mid April, the Moroccan/Indian couple will head out in July, the Mexican family will return home in August. We did meet a dad with a daughter Kidzilla's age at the laundry room yesterday; they just moved in, but he's got split custody so we may not see them much. Hopefully we'll get a new influx of kids in the fall. I also have to say goodbye to friends I've made in classes that are graduating or are taking another path for the rest of our time in school.
I've got 8 weeks of summer school coming up, which means that all my classes are going to be at double the speed of normal. I have night classes 4 times a week which means I will continue to miss most of Kidzilla's activities. A will be providing childcare and hopefully will be home and not be called to training in the middle of my semester. At this point, we have no back up plan.
Somehow we missed that window of spring where it was just the right temp. The house went from too cold all the time to AC can't possibly keep up. Coming home feels like walking into a sauna. I guess that's what you get when all your windows are on one side of your apt and ventilation requires highly complicated geometric calculations to determine optimal fan placement for airflow. Sleeping at night is impossible without the fan blowing directly on us.
We are still working on collecting paperwork to submit to the FAA and getting through all those hoops. It's not nearly the trouble we had getting everything figured out at the beginning, which is nice. I've purposely stayed out of the loop of the Cal-United merger (UniCal?) although Dad and A have talked about it. It seems exciting for them because it's bringing together the two different companies they are associated with. I hope that soon I can get back to the original intent of this blog- to talk about how airline life effects daily family life instead of just rambling about myself all the time.
Things are going well for us too and there are some real bright spots in our future.
Friday, April 16, 2010
The road not traveled
When I was on the dating circuit, I had this amazing ability to attract men named Jeff. I never knew their names when first approached, but I met three of them within a short time frame. I was still in the "getting to know you" phase when I met A. In order to keep them straight for my friends, I took to referring to them by the name of the city they lived in instead of by name. I thought it was a great plan and my friends appreciated it. Thanks to the miracle of Facebook, I can keep in touch with them and be reminded of the road I didn't travel.
San Jose got a sweet job with Microsoft and moved to Washington. He makes big bucks doing some kind of management thing with the Xbox. It looks like just recently he met the right girl.
Galt moved to Missouri, got married, had a daughter, got divorced and now makes big bucks doing some kind of computer stuff for Walmart.
Tracy stayed in... Tracy and got married not to long ago. He was already making big bucks at his car repair shop.
Instead of sticking it out with any of these nice gentlemen, I hedged my bets with A. And instead of living a life of ease and having a husband home every night, I've got the pilot who makes little bucks and is gone 4-5 days at a time.
There was a reason I bypassed them all and chose the glamorous life I now lead. I can't imagine having taken the journey of the past few years with anyone else.
San Jose got a sweet job with Microsoft and moved to Washington. He makes big bucks doing some kind of management thing with the Xbox. It looks like just recently he met the right girl.
Galt moved to Missouri, got married, had a daughter, got divorced and now makes big bucks doing some kind of computer stuff for Walmart.
Tracy stayed in... Tracy and got married not to long ago. He was already making big bucks at his car repair shop.
Instead of sticking it out with any of these nice gentlemen, I hedged my bets with A. And instead of living a life of ease and having a husband home every night, I've got the pilot who makes little bucks and is gone 4-5 days at a time.
There was a reason I bypassed them all and chose the glamorous life I now lead. I can't imagine having taken the journey of the past few years with anyone else.
Saturday, April 3, 2010
The Easter see-saw
Easter has both positive and negative associations that come up every year.
Eight years ago on Easter Sunday, I was in labor with Kidzilla. Although I was very excited, it was a terrible day to be in labor because there was nothing to do. Every thing was closed, I couldn't even buy a sandwich, and all I wanted was to be out moving around. I made it through dinner at my parent's house, during most of which they didn't believe that I was actually in labor (Kidzilla was a slow mover). I have a vivid memory of standing in line at the local Walgreens drugstore, very late at night, picking up something I desperately needed at the time to make it through labor. I was huffing and puffing at that point and leaning on my then-spouse for support while waiting in line while the woman ahead of us debated which brand of cigarettes that came in a green package it was that her boyfriend wanted her to purchase and then while she paid by check that, of course, had to be called in for verification. It was excruciating not just because I was in labor, but because the entire process was taking forever and there was a line of people building behind me. Kidzilla ended up being born at 2pm the next afternoon after a total of 34 hours of labor.
Three years ago was a big one. It was the long awaited day that A was finally due to leave for his airline training. We were so excited but didn't really know what to expect. Would he be able to come home at all during the expected six week training? Would I be able to survive on my one without having to resort to feeding Kidzilla peanut butter and jelly sandwiches nightly and running out of gas because I refuse to fill the tank myself? My most vivid memory of this event was being so excited and proud to take A to the airport and then promptly bursting into tears when he left us to make his way through the security line. I silently cried while Kidzilla tried to comfort me in his then five year old way. We stayed until we say A walking down the long hallway to his boarding gate. He was able to come home every weekend during training and by our third goodbye I was no longer in tears.
That same day was a double whammy because I had unexpectedly discovered I was pregnant hours before we took A to the airport. Although we wanted another child, we didn't at that moment. There were so many other things on our plates at the time. The pregnancy didn't make it and we were both saddened and relieved to find that out. A was not available to be much help to me as he was immersed in intense airline training. There was very little time to digest any news or feelings due to his schedule, but we both limped through it.
Now this time of year always hits me a little harder because ever since that Easter three years ago, we have been unable to get pregnant again, despite our best attempts. There's always a bit of sadness mixed in with the joyous feelings from Kidzilla's birthday. Both of my pregnancies held Easter as a special day and I always hope that once again Easter will work it's magic. We've seen doctors, had tests, tried medicines and all the rest, yet despite nothing by optimistic results, each Easter our arms are empty.
This year I am trying to focus on the spirit of rebirth by rejoicing in the good news that A is going back to work soon and that both doctors have told us that there is nothing but a minute chance that A's cancer will come back. While he's focusing on getting back in shape and relearning everything aviation related, I'm focusing on the new roles our family members will take on once he is back flying. This season brings new life to us all.
Eight years ago on Easter Sunday, I was in labor with Kidzilla. Although I was very excited, it was a terrible day to be in labor because there was nothing to do. Every thing was closed, I couldn't even buy a sandwich, and all I wanted was to be out moving around. I made it through dinner at my parent's house, during most of which they didn't believe that I was actually in labor (Kidzilla was a slow mover). I have a vivid memory of standing in line at the local Walgreens drugstore, very late at night, picking up something I desperately needed at the time to make it through labor. I was huffing and puffing at that point and leaning on my then-spouse for support while waiting in line while the woman ahead of us debated which brand of cigarettes that came in a green package it was that her boyfriend wanted her to purchase and then while she paid by check that, of course, had to be called in for verification. It was excruciating not just because I was in labor, but because the entire process was taking forever and there was a line of people building behind me. Kidzilla ended up being born at 2pm the next afternoon after a total of 34 hours of labor.
Three years ago was a big one. It was the long awaited day that A was finally due to leave for his airline training. We were so excited but didn't really know what to expect. Would he be able to come home at all during the expected six week training? Would I be able to survive on my one without having to resort to feeding Kidzilla peanut butter and jelly sandwiches nightly and running out of gas because I refuse to fill the tank myself? My most vivid memory of this event was being so excited and proud to take A to the airport and then promptly bursting into tears when he left us to make his way through the security line. I silently cried while Kidzilla tried to comfort me in his then five year old way. We stayed until we say A walking down the long hallway to his boarding gate. He was able to come home every weekend during training and by our third goodbye I was no longer in tears.
That same day was a double whammy because I had unexpectedly discovered I was pregnant hours before we took A to the airport. Although we wanted another child, we didn't at that moment. There were so many other things on our plates at the time. The pregnancy didn't make it and we were both saddened and relieved to find that out. A was not available to be much help to me as he was immersed in intense airline training. There was very little time to digest any news or feelings due to his schedule, but we both limped through it.
Now this time of year always hits me a little harder because ever since that Easter three years ago, we have been unable to get pregnant again, despite our best attempts. There's always a bit of sadness mixed in with the joyous feelings from Kidzilla's birthday. Both of my pregnancies held Easter as a special day and I always hope that once again Easter will work it's magic. We've seen doctors, had tests, tried medicines and all the rest, yet despite nothing by optimistic results, each Easter our arms are empty.
This year I am trying to focus on the spirit of rebirth by rejoicing in the good news that A is going back to work soon and that both doctors have told us that there is nothing but a minute chance that A's cancer will come back. While he's focusing on getting back in shape and relearning everything aviation related, I'm focusing on the new roles our family members will take on once he is back flying. This season brings new life to us all.
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