27 March 2011

Marching on

But I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep, and miles to go before I sleep.
- Robert Frost

Last week was a whirlwind and so is this post. So i apologize in advance for the length and lack of humor or pics.

I drove cross-country in Katie's car. Almost 2000 miles. I had company though, Belle & Lilly! I made pretty good time, only stopping to eat, rest, eat and sleep. Lilly is a great car rider. Belle on the other hand was a mess. From the minute I started the car until I slowed below 40 mph, she was panting and shaking uncontrollably. It was bad. But we had to get home...I made it home by Friday and I immediately began to really feel the pressure of deployment weighing me down.

Saturday was great though. MGM and Grady had a nice cookout for me. Everyone came over to enjoy some ribs and wings. It was a really nice send off. Big T& Charlotte, Brian & Robin and the twins and my Mom and Lloyd were there too. KT made one of my favorite salads and MG made banana pudding. Food equals love in my eyes and there was a lot of love in that house Saturday!!

Sunday we met Marie and Lloyd at Ft Pickins for some sunshine and history exploration. I'd never been to that fort. It was very fitting, I felt, to visit a American fort utilized in our very own country's fight for independence just days before I leave for a country trying to do the same thing. It's all perspective.

Tick, tock...Says my internal clock.

Monday was gone in a flash. I can't even remember what we did.

Tuesday, the movers showed up! Moving day is always exciting. I wish I could tell you I loved this day. Good news first. None our stuff is broken, it all fits into the new place, and what we don't need to use fits in the garage. The bad news is that all the hard work we did separating our things into : immediate use, might use, permanent storage didn't quite get followed by the packing agents. Long, long story short we were opening kitchen boxes that had KT's high school memorabilia in it (those huge hair/white eye shadow pics have a home in the garage and only get pulled out when I need a chuckle).

Wednesday and Thurs we just worked all day to get the house settled. It wasn't done on Sat when I left, poor KT has to wrap it up while chasing the baby and two dogs out from under her feet.

Wed we headed out to Dinner but it's Spring Break and we ended up eating at Margaritaville. It's a bar slash restaurant...I hope the drinks are good, b/c the food...notsomuch.
Thurs night we met Tony and Charlotte for supper at a local fish house. It was great, AC was a gem and I really had a nice time visiting with the in-laws.

At this point, I'm panicking on the inside. One of my self-proclaimed good qualities is that I keep my cool on the exterior. I think I did a pretty good job of masking my emotions up to this point. But Katie seems to see right through it. Friday, AC was supposed to go to school, but I asked to keep her home. We played and had fun all morning, then she napped. Then by the time she awoke, it was nearly time to say good-bye. She stayed at Aunt MGs because of the Baynard-Davis social hour (the night before their wedding).

Now, I've been doing this for going on 12 years. You'd think separation would get easier, right? Notsomuch. Wow, it just hovered over me the whole week. The past three years KT and I (and more recently AC) have had our share of separation because of my ship's underway schedule and such. Two weeks away is lousy...but leaving my home while staring a 9 month deployment in the face, well that flat-out hurts.

So I said good-bye to 20mo old Anna Cross Friday night and the next morning did the same to 31 year old Katherine Cross. I'm not sure which was worse, the one who knew where I was going? Or the one who squirmed out of my arms because she wanted to keep playing? I think I choose 'D' all of the above.

In high school, whenever I was running late my Aunt Cindy would call for me to hurry up and I would respond "I'm coming, I'm coming!", then her reply would ALWAYS be "Yeah, so is Christmas". I sure hope she's right this time.

I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep, and miles to go before I sleep.

7 comments:

Katie and Beau said...

You did a great job chronicling the week's events! And taking care of the "man things" around here before you had to take off. I can't wait to hear about your next adventure!

We love you very, very much.

Chrissy Rose Photography said...

This was beautifully written. Made me cry... Lots of love to your 9 month old and 31 year old beauties. And tons of love to you too, Beau! Thanks for sharing. xoxoxo, Bobgdyke (love that I added him after the xos), Chrissy and Hannah

Rob and Macey said...

Wow, Beau, you are a really good writer. I had tears in my eyes while reading this. It's really nice to read about deployment from the male perspective!

Joe Dowd said...

Beau, great post, you are a great writer BTW. I was definitely moved. I have so much respect for what you do. You will be in our prayers for a speedy and safe deployment.

Keep writing!

We love you man!

Joe

The Hatcher's said...

Just shed a few tears over that post. I'm so honored to have you in my family! Thanks for everything you sacrifice for our country. Love, Robin

Cathy said...

Oh Beau.........you are a great writer and you brought back so many memories for me. I know how hard separation is and I too, cried a few tears while reading this post. Just know we all appreciate what you do and we will be praying for the time to fly.
Be safe!!!

nancygrayce said...

I can't imagine how hard that was....my heart goes out to you, Katie and Anna Cross! I'm praying these months go by fast and blogging about it will help.

I'm praying for your safety and for Katie and Anna Cross as they are without you. You three are a beautiful family and I love y'all. So sorry I didn't get to see you and say goodbye, but I'll see you when you get home!