What was the best thing you did for the kids while your Soldier was deployed?
What helped you the most?
What was the one thing you wish you had prepared for before they left?
Any good books that you recommend?
What's the one thing that helped you the most?
Last deployment I counted trash days in order to make the keeping of time bearable. Now, because of bears, we have a dumpster with locks.
What can I count now? Number of times I have to unstop the toilet? How many nights Abbie doesn't sleep?
I need some fresh input on how to survive our 5th year long deployment. Hmmm....maybe I should count weeks until retirement?
6 comments:
I think what helped me get through things was planning things all the time. He left on Thanksgiving and my parents came on New Years so I knew I just had to get through the holidays. Then I planned a few trips and spent the summer in CA with my family. By the time that was done we only had a couple months left.
Maybe also plan a weekly fun thing with some friends? That has helped me in the past too.
Welp, I haven't had the joy of dealing with a deployment yet. But, when my hubby was in basic, I counted the Sundays til I'd see him again. Every Sunday was pizza night at Grammy's house, and I looked forward to that the most...so I counted Sundays. =) It worked really well for me.
Do you have the "Donut of Misery"?! I loved mine... it counts down the days, months, seconds, and gives you a percentage chart of your progress. I love it.
My child is only a year old, so I planned "walking" days, three days a week I walk two miles with friends and their kids Maks age. I even got a double stroller so I could plop a friend in right beside him. It takes up a good few hours on those mornings and makes them fly by, because the rest of that day is then rushed to make up for the time spent out!
And I started taking online college classes. My classes end a month before he gets home, so seeing tests and assignments pass by gets me closer and closer!
What has helped us the most (my two boys and I) is to keep a constant schedule. My special needs 4 year old thrives on routine. Like every Monday we go to the library. Every day we take a trip to the gas station and get "Bug Juice" -- they do, not me :) And so on... It helps the days to go faster to have things planed all the time. The community also has a lot of fun stuff going on, so look into what is going on locally to keep busy too.
I feel like I went through the last deployment with you. And I'm a little bummed we're doing that again so soon.
I would think you'd want to schedule races and 5ks and count down how many of those you have to go before he gets back. Or set a movie night once a week for you and the kids to go to and count movie nights. Something like that. Something fun.
Maybe you can do races and take mini trips together. That way you'll be counting down to those but at the same time be getting closer to the end of the deployment.
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