I am her now...

I remember thinking to myself "How do they do it?"
I would think of them as "heroes".
The moms, all alone, making everything seem so easy.  Raising kids during the week by themselves and then anxiously waiting for Daddy to come home from work to spend the weekend with him.  Everything was a routine and they had it all figured out. 
The dads, working their butts off all week long.  Being away from their kids and possibly missing out on some amazing things they do on a daily basis.
I always admired these people. 
I always thought it would be too hard for me to do that myself.
I always said, there was NO way I could marry a pilot, a professional athlete or a businessman that traveled all the time...
I wasn't gonna become that wife!

Well, I did!
But it's NOT that hard.  It's not my #1 choice.  But we are making things work.
I do have my nice little routine with the kids, like the other moms.  ;-)
And I do anxiously wait for Daddy to get back home to us....

----------------------------
When Jodi and I were engaged, back in 2006, he was offered a promotion.
They offered him three times the salary, but we had to move to North Carolina and he would be gone weekly. 
I did NOT like the idea.
So much that we ended up breaking up over it.
I told him, that was NOT the family I wanted to have.
I was too needy and I wanted my husband there everynight with me.
I couldn't see myself doing it.  NO matter how good the money was going to be, I did NOT care.
I wanted out!

We made up the morning after.  We both cried too much and realized there was no way we could be without each other. Those few hours of being broken up were pretty hard for both of us.  We made a decision.  He would take the offer,  we would move to NC and postpone the wedding until we could figure out if things were going to work out.

Well, the promotion never happened. And nothing changed. Thank God! 
--------------------------

Now, Fast forward to today. 
Oh how things have changed!

My husband has been traveling A LOT.  And I mean, weeks at a time.

Good thing is, things should start to slow down in a month or so.

His job DOES cover the whole state of Florida.  However, his trips will be 1-2 or 3 (at the most) days.  Plus, we can go with him.  You better believe we are coming with him when he has to go do his training meetings in Orlando! Mickey and Minney, here we come!~

It's funny how unpredicatable life is, don't you think?
How you think you have certain things figured out and boom! you are hit in the face with changes you were not expecting.

One has to deal with the cards dealt.  And fortunately, no matter how hard times have been recently, we have been very very blessed.

We have gone from having the "ideal life".  Money rolling in, no debt (except my student loans), happy,  planning our pefect wedding...  Really, nothing to worry about.  To having to stand in line @ the Medicaid office to be able to provide our kids with medical insurance, since his "great" job laid him off and with that, we lost all the medical coverage.  To back on top with wild dreams of being millionaires and two amazing jobs with a lot of potential, to back to the bottom once again, where we had to even ask family and friends to loan us money to be able to cover our basic bills.

We have been through a lot. But we have been strong.

I can say with certainty,  God has ALWAYS been there for us when we needed him the most.

WE ARE RICH in love.  We are RICH in blessings.
My HUSBAND is here, close to our hearts and souls, no matter how much he travels, no matter how far he goes and for how long.
I will never be lonely and I will never complain when he goes away.
Well, sometimes I will,  but I will understand and be grateful that he is traveling to provide us with the life we want.

I have become that mom! that wife! and I am proud of it now!
I am proud of myself and Jodi for indeed, making it work.
(something I would have never thought possible)
I am proud of my 2 year old baby boy and my 8 month old baby girl for being such great kids amongst all this "craziness"..
I am proud of my family, my TEAM!
There is nowhere else to go, but UP!

So, to all the mommies out there that do it day in and day out alone, I am happy and proud of joining your "club".

To all the daddies out there that do work hard to be able to bring home the bacon, I salute you.  I know from Jodi how hard it is to be away from the kids and miss them like crazy.  You guys are GREAT men and fathers and we thank you for doing this for us.

And to all those wives or husbands who have their spouses in the military, you STILL are my heroes! 
Now THAT i wouldn't be able to do ;-)
Well, who knows now huh, but still :-P