Updates and Halo

Sadly, it has been weeks since I have written on my blog. There are many things that I would like to write about, ideas floating around in my head, but my schedule is different now that Neil is home. While I would not say that I actually have a life now, at least I have Neil around to run errands with me or watch my favorite tv shows at night. I easily spend an hour every time I write on my blog and typically find that uninterrupted time after the kids go to bed, so there are things I'd rather be doing now that Neil is home. In fact, Neil is at Sydney's basketball practice tonight and my dishes are already done. Not that I would put off writing to do the dishes.

Picking Neil up from the airport was amazing, but I did not think we would ever get there. We got lost following the google map directions on my iphone, we hit every red light and we got stuck behind every slow car and old truck. Finally we pulled up to the airport, and it was as if I was picking Neil up from the hospital after work. (We only had one car for most of med school, so I spent a few years picking him up at the end of the day.) It did not seem that he had been gone for six months.

The first few days after Neil got home were surreal. I would look over at him while he sat next to me on the couch and get confused. It felt normal to see him, but unnatural to have anyone actually sitting there. Unfortunately for Neil, he had to spend the first three days checking Army boxes on Post. While I understand the need for post-deployment Psyche evals, all of the appointments and waiting do not sound to me like a great way to encourage reintegration. Fortunately we have spent plenty of time together since then because Neil's department gave him a lot of leave. At this point, he has almost two weeks of leave left. I could get used to this.

Everyone I talked to was concerned about the reintegration process and how Neil would adjust to being home. Neil and I have spent time talking about his deployment and the things crossing his mind as he got used to being here. If I had to guess, Neil's occupation as a surgeon allowed him to form coping mechanisms in advance of deploying that allow him to deal with some issues regular Army guys experience upon returning from war. When we were in Boston, it seemed to blow his mind that he had been in the middle of war a short while ago.

BTW, currently Zach and I are sporting our wireless XBox headsets and are pretending to play Halo. Did you know that in our pretend world, that if you push the button on the left you get a bazooka? Syd and Neil just walked and Syd made 4 baskets! Off to have Girl Scout Cookies for dessert.

Snowboarding stories can wait for another day.