Weekend Getaway

Johnny has been working in Hanford (south of Fresno in central CA) for the past few weeks and he will likely be there for a few months. Its about 5 hours from Hemet where we are renting a house so he can't come home every weekend, its just too expensive. Luckily the company he is currently working for had their holiday party which provided a perfect excuse to leave the heathens with my parents and spend a whole 36 hours with Johnny alone. It was divine! We sat in the jacuzzi, danced to live music without worrying about what time we had to relieve the babysitter, ate ice cream, sat in the jacuzzi, went to bed late and slept in late, worked out at the gym for hours, sat in the jacuzzi, took long hot showers, went clothes shopping, took a nap, and then got all dressed up to go to the party.

I was nervous to meet the guys Johnny works with. Linemen are a rough group and I didn't really know what to expect. Johnny warned me about a few of the guys in advance, one was super scary looking but turned out to be a big teddy bear. The party was great fun. The food was great. The dancing was fun. The people I met were very nice and one guy in particular made a hilarious drunk. We were given $500 gambling chips each to use at the poker tables to earn raffle tickets. Our drink tickets we used to suck up to the guys on Johnny's crew. It paid off. Since Johnny and I don't ever gamble it was fun to learn a few new games and bet big knowing we had nothing substantial to lose. Some of the other guys started asking me to play for them when they saw my stack of chips. One guy told me I needed to win big so I could "win the Kitchen Aid to bake for [my] 45 children." He was hilarious. I guess 4 kids does seem like a lot to some people, especially when they are drunk. What I really wanted was the 60" flat screen, but I settled for $40 to Cold Stone. At least we didn't leave empty handed. Then what do you think we did when the party ended? Jacuzzi, of course! The time seemed to go so slow without the normal hussel of keeping the kids on schedule to avoid meltdowns. I was so relaxed the entire time. I miss being relaxed. 

The problem with the weekend being over is that now I need something else to look forward to. I have the kids all on my own so much of the time. Its hard to breath sometimes much less even remember to go to the bathroom or brush my own teeth. I am struggling to just keep my head above water. Going to a cold bed alone at night is not appealing so I tend to stay up too late reading then regret it when my boys wake early the next morning. Each day I tell Johnny he should be happy we are all alive. I know it is hard for him too knowing that I struggle and he can't be here to relieve me. Most of the time our limited conversations are cut short by the kids. I know it will get easier over time. I count my blessings that we are not in the trailer any more and that at least two of my boys are in school most of the day. I think later in life I will be able to look back at this time and laugh, but not yet. Not yet.