"The Twighlight Zone"

I can't tell you how many blogs I have read that have some version of " I hate drama..." in there somewhere. Do you think it is just a natural propensity of bloggers? You have to dislike drama, because otherwise you'd make a bad blogger? Perhaps that's true...I think blogging takes a fair amount of introspection, and a knowing of oneself. People who start drama, I feel, typically are too involved in the creation of all that to really delve into themselves that much.

This is one of those " I hate drama" posts. And it's true, I do. I try not to start drama, I try even harder not to be involved in other people's drama. Both Skunky and I feel this way. Except for an occasional rant ( I have been known to have moments of TMI on here ;P) We keep to ourselves. Our business is our own...and we don't really care to know all of  yours either.

This week has felt like an episode straight out of the Twighlight Zone. My kids have been nuts....Piglet is teething like crazy, and all sorts of cranky about it ( Poor guy. I feel for you I do but...really? With the incessant high pitched screaming? ALL DAY? Mommy's brain is seriously about to leak out of her burst eardrums...) And darling Pollyanna...I miss the sweet natured little girl that took your place last week. Can we have her back? Please? Pretty Please?

Add to that some disturbing...but completely incorrect...press about my husbands boat ( both in the paper and on TV) that was enough to give me a near heart attack ( I had no idea that the media could report something so wrong as the honest-to-God's truth! Seriously people, do not believe everything you read/hear!) And then an 'emergency' boat meeting about said media. Of course they didn't tell you that when you got the call about the meeting, so I spent all day wondering what in the crap had gone wrong! Only to get there and be told "don't believe everything you hear/read" ( Duh! Figured that out earlier in the week!)

And to top it all off, tonight...a committee meeting. Now, I signed up to be on this committee when the boys left, knowing I was going to be away for most of the deployment. I figured they wouldn't really need me until the end anyway. The committee chair kept me updated while I was out there, and I have been able to do a few things, but this was my first official meeting. The girls seemed really nice, and very excited about the tasks the committee was assigned. And this is where the drama comes in...apparently there is some bad blood between the committee chair and some former committee members, and I was about to be versed in all of that bad blood, if it wasn't for some other very sweet committee member who change the subject ASAP. ( thank you, you sweet sweet girl!)

The reason this pertains to me was, I had sat with the former committee member at the emergency meeting. I'm gonna give the benefit of the doubt to the committee chair, that perhaps she's trying to 'save' me from all of the trouble she has gone through. What she doesn't know is, this person who she dislikes so much, was one of only two women who befriended me when we first got to the boat over two years ago. She and her husband have been in the Navy a lot longer then Skunky and I, and she has been there to guide me through all of the chaos that comes with being married to a deployed submariner. She has only barely alluded to some difficulties she has had with the committee chair, but has really taken the position of " Jenn, you're a big girl and you can make your own judgments about people." I wish that I could trust the committee chair would do the same, and leave their problems between them.

I'm nervous now, to be involved with the committee, because you know the more I go the harder its going to be to dodge the conversation she so obviously wants to share with me. I would have to stand up and say " Hey, that's my friend , and I don't want to be involved in this" which wouldn't be hard but...lol I'd probably earn myself an enemy. We're SO close to the end it's insane...and I've made it almost the entire deployment without being involved in all of the navy wife drama...can I make it just this last little bit??

Honestly....I don't know. Lets pray that I can. :)

You know you're a submarine wife if...

Well, we've made it past the halfway point of this underway, and the boat pulled into a port this weekend so I've had the opportunity to talk to the Hubs several times on the phone, and I have to say, it's been a relief just to hear his voice!!

I'll admit I was a little frustrated with him the first time that he called...he was distracted because of trying to get a room at the Navy Lodge and having gotten some time off the boat for the first time in two weeks. And my husband has the attention span of a two-year old and can only focus on one thing at a time. On top of that he really prefers talking about certain things in private when we talk on the phone, which I TOTALLY understand...I was just having one of those moments where I wanted to say to him " Honey, I've had one hell of a two week period here, and if you can't talk then you shouldn't have called!!" Which is totally bullcrap, I would have been really disappointed if he hadn't called until hours after he'd been in port. :) I just missed him and really wanted his attention...I'm needy, it's true.

And seriously....it had been crazy for me since he's been gone. I mean...obviously, two kids are more work then one but...it's like with anything else about being a parent, you really DON'T know, until you've experiences it yourself! My sister jokes around about Piglet being a "walking pharmacy" and seriously, with all the issues he's had in the last two weeks, it really feels like it! On top of that, we're trying to work out some major issues that need to be taken care of before deployment, and there is only so much time before he's gone and it doesn't feel like we're going to be able to fit everything in!

I've been following this group on facebook called "Submarine Wives" and they've had this running joke they keep posting of " you know you're a submarine wife if..." and a couple have really struck a cord with me;

YOU KNOW YOU'RE A SUBMARINERS WIFE IF:

* You've stayed awake during the mid watch to talk to your husband on
the phone. ( I'm doing this one tonight as a matter of fact! :) )

* You have told a creditor "No, really, I don't have power of attorney because he had to work every day until O dark thirty for 6 weeks prior to this deployment but if you want your money you better tell me what the problem is".

I dealt with the second one this underway actually. Well not that scenario in particular, but the horrible realization that the POA we have is pretty much worthless...I can't even change internet carriers with it. So number one priority when he gets back?? Get a better fricking POA!!

Anyway...so that's my military life in a nutshell lately. Don't worry...there'll be plenty more drama where that came from!

Until next time,