The Curse of the TDY

For the entire month of August, Tony was TDY in Scotland. In the military life, it is well-known that bad things happen while your husband is away on a TDY. Armed with this knowledge, I steeled myself as Tony pulled away in the wee dawn hours of the morning. "I can do this", I told myself. He has been deployed for a whole year. This is one month.

My husband, at the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo 2016

The first incident was not too bad, considering that it could have been much worse. There was this annoying little light that would come on the van's dashboard every time I went around a sharp curve. As soon as the curve straightened out, the light went off. Surely, I thought, if it was a big deal, the light would stay on. Wrong thought. I was extremely low on oil for some odd reason. I was relating the funny light story to a friend at church who immediately checked my oil level. It was bone dry. After adding 3 quarts, it barely reached the safe line on the oil dipstick. A real tragedy avoided, praise the Lord!

Next, my sweet little son, when told 'no' by his mother, threw himself face-first into the couch. He hit his front teeth on the hard part of the couch. The next day, he told me it hurt to eat. Then, about a week later, I noticed his two front teeth were turning gray. The dentist said that only time will tell if he damaged the permanent teeth. He is not quite as photogenic as before, but he is still a cutie-pie to me.

Then, Peter's birthday and my broken arm. Yep. No husband to help. Praise God again, for Sophie was here. If she had not, I honestly don't know how we would have handled that first week and the surgery. But poor Sophie did not get to do any of the sightseeing we had planned.

Usually, three things is par for the course in a typical TDY. But we had one more. Jack has suffered from ingrown toenails for years. Things got really bad right as Tony was getting ready to leave and it was decided that he should have a minor procedure to help. Of course it was scheduled for the day after my fall at the skating rink. We rescheduled it and it seemed that everything went smoothly. But one of his toes developed an awful infection. We are still in the midst of solving that problem, but once again, praise be to God, for Tony got home on Sunday and I am no longer handling it all alone.

I have tried to remain positive throughout all this craziness, but I must confess that I did lose it a time or two. I am trying to keep in mind that God's will be done and not mine, and that there is a reason for everything, even if I can't see or understand it right now. To help me, I decided I needed a physical reminder, something I could look at, to help me turn to Our Blessed Mother when I was emotionally spent. A dear friend, though we have never met in real life, makes beautiful rosaries and other religious items. I bought a bracelet to help me maintain peace of heart and mind. Her Etsy shop is full of beautiful, well-made rosaries. I have bought them for my own children as well as for the young adults I have sponsored for Confirmation. I received my bracelet two days ago, and it is perfect. I can glance down at my wrist and know that I can trust in God 100%, no matter how hard it seems. Thank you, Barbara, for my lovely bracelet and the cover for my Magnificat. As always, I am so amazed at your talents.

Sunday evening, we all camped out on the front porch to wait for Tony to arrive. It was our first days of truly hot days here in Germany, so the breeze blowing through the porch felt so nice compared to the inside of our not air-conditioned house. Every time we heard a car, my heart would race. Finally, we saw his car turn the corner. A huge cheer erupted from us all. We were all together again. Praise God!