And under the boughs unbowed

All clothed in a snowy shroud

She had no heart so hardened

All under the boughs unbowed

ASHLEY, COMMANDING OFFICER.

...misses Tomato, a lot. I just got around to thinking about him not being here today...it's my first long stretch off from work since he left. I know it's only a month and that's barely anything but I can still miss my husband right? I just feel bad for complaining with all the women around me dealing with 6-10 month deployments...or gearing up for them. I just feel like I have no right to be sad. Welcome to The Military Wife 101. First lesson, it sucks...and it never gets easier.

I notice he's gone because the house stays clean, the dog is always hyper and is never worn out, the grass is growing, there's not the same amount of groceries in the refrigerator, there's no Call of Duty in the background, there's no kiss in the mornings, there's no asking him in the middle of the night "are you still praying?", there's no stories of bow shooting, there's no dinner ready when I get home from a 12 hour shift...and lastly, there's no answer on the other end of the line when I call his phone.

Such is life, I guess. I have no right to complain. If you read this, Tomato, I love you.

Work has been going alright. The precepting gig is pretty epic. My preceptee said the sweetest thing to me the other night...basically along the lines of, "If I were in the ER dying, I would want you to be my nurse." This means a lot to me, because I try so hard to be good at what I do. Most times I feel I fall short of my duties and of my patients...but to hear someone else's perspective of my ability is refreshing in a sense. The long and short of it is that it made me smile. I like smiling. I really like smiling.

I'm going to SC tomorrow or Saturday, probably tomorrow. I just emailed to kennel because I don't know that Zero would be especially happy with a 5 hour car trip...because he never is. That sucker hates the damn car. I hope the accept him. I mean it's an extra $100 bucks out of my pocket...but it's worth not torturing the dog the entire time...and not loading the crate in the back of the Civic. Just another one of those things I miss about the husband being home. Did I mention he did laundry?

I'm excited to see Colin...and everyone else of course. I just feel like he's probably turned into a teenager since I've seen him last. I know, I know....shut up.

TOMATO, THE HUBS.

...is in CA. I miss him.

He calls at least once or twice a day. He's still trying to take care of every bill and make sure that everything is okay here. He's really attentive, and doing a lot more than I expected from so far away.

I bought him some new clothes today. Some seer sucker shorts, blue khaki shorts, two collared shirts and a tshirt. Oyeah and a fedora! It's awesome. I'm forcing my husband to be stylish one piece at a time. Mehehehe. :)

ZERO, THE DRAGON.

...is in a photo contest. He's in second right now though. :/

He's also hyper and wakes me up every morning with his wet nose to play with him. It's heartbreaking to leave him in the house when I have to work because I know that Tomato isn't going to be home to let him out a lunch. I know the dragon doesn't understand what's going on. You can tell he's missing Tomato, for the simple fact that there were still daylight hours to play frisbee in when he was here. He may be even handling the adjustment worse than me.

You better believe I can expect the red toy, the rawhide or some other toy at my feet at any given time and moment of the day.

Song of the Day

The Crane Wife Pt. 3 by The Decemberists