Friday Fun

My youngest sister just turned 10. Tonight I surprised her with concert tickets to see her favorite singer, Demi Lovato. Yes, I spent my Friday night with thousands of screaming pre-teen girls, and I'm not ashamed to admit that I was waving my cell phone to the music along with everyone else. Being the oldest of four sisters, and 13 years apart from the youngest, I naturally spoil her rotten. Not only did I let her talk me into taking her to dunkin donuts for dinner, I also dropped $35 on a Demi Lovato t-shirt, bought glow sticks, concession stand food, a bottle of water for $4.50 and would have purchased some cotton candy had I not run out of cash. I'd say it was a pretty good night.



















On another note, my hubby called me on Skype last night. I fell asleep with my computer by my bed and woke to the Skype ring around 1 a.m. I was happy to hear from him, but it was harder to say good-bye and fall back to sleep with a call in the middle of the night. It's been quite an adjustment sleeping alone since he left and I think late night calls and video chats make it a bit worse for some reason. Maybe it's just me. I prefer daytime communication because I feel less vulnerable to my emotions, I think. He was able to call me this afternoon as well, which was wonderful! He finally made it to his final destination, so he'll be able to settle in and start a somewhat normal routine.

A big concern and struggle for spouses during deployments seems to be having fulfilling conversations on the phone. Any way you slice it, a call from my husband recharges my batteries. Whether or not we have much to talk about, just hearing his voice fills me with joy for the rest of the day. However, I've heard from other spouses and experienced during our long-distance dating, that it's sometimes easy to run out of things to say. This is especially the case when the deployed spouse can't talk about his mission or work overseas. Also, the pressure of knowing you only have a few minutes on the phone with your man can make it harder to remember what you want to say. I'm hoping to avoid falling into these ruts with a few pre-meditated plans for successful communication.

1. Write down stuff throughout the day to tell my husband. Every time something funny happens, or something reminds me of him, or I have a random question for him, I try to write it down. I like to take notes on my i-phone since I always have it with me.

2. Come up with alternatives to the boring convos. Before he left, we started reading a series of books together. We are in the middle of this series now. We're reading at the same pace and discussing the books when we talk/email. This provides a great subject matter for conversations. Also, I'm planning on finding some good websites/books with random, fun facts and jokes. My husband loves this kind of stuff. So finding a hobby or interest of your husband's to take part in somehow and integrate into conversations can be helpful. I think everyone likes a good joke now and then. I know that when he calls he wants to feel a brief escape from reality and a breath of fresh air from his love back home. I'm going to try to provide this creatively.