New Routine

Remember in my last post I spoke of reintegration when spouses return from deployment? Yeah. I am now in full reintegration mode. 

Again, I cease doing many of the things I am accustomed to. Strangely enough, in his absence I learned how to take care of the cars. I know when to take them to the shop for their oil changes. I know what to do if a pesky warning light comes on. The mechanic no longer treat me as a child  or try to convince me of un-needed repairs. It is a hard won status at the shop. All that will be lost now that Jared takes the cars in for work. The mechanics will praise me for how well I cared for our cars... you know... for a woman. Jared will be pleased but will not relinquish his duties. As time passes, mechanics will forget I am capable of caring for cars despite my gender. I know this will happen from experience.

I must share sound space with him again. I love sharing physical space with Jared so please do not misunderstand what I say. It is the change in sound that can grate on my nerves. He has a very eclectic  taste in music. Most of it is tolerable. But... and it is usually post cruise his tastes tend towards it... heavy metal is at the bottom of my tolerance scale. It was banned during pregnancy because Chao lei AND Jun threw absolute fits when he played it. Since it was my insides being attacked, it was my preferences that mattered. I am walking with a sore jaw from clenching it. I should have bought those noise canceling headphones I saw.

I have to share the children again. It is not a bad thing completely. It is only Jared has a different disciplinary style than I do; given his recent return it is considerably more lax than mine. The children discovered this very quickly. They now go to their father for requests of things they believe I will answer no to. I pray it is not so long before he returns to the response of, "What did your mother say?"

I have to, as un-defiantly as possible, remind him he is not aboard his ship and that I nor the children are one of his sailors. He is intelligent and this usually does not take long; a couple of weeks at the most. It is an interesting couple of weeks that we are compensated well for putting up with. lol

Much to Jared's pleasure, Mother is still here for two more days before she returns home. That means he eats her cooking rather than mine. My cooking is not bad. I believe it to be quite good. It is only not Mother's. I will not complain for her doing the cooking. It means I have a few more days before I must do it. Do not fret of her Christmas. China treats it as more of a Valentine's day. Still, she will be home before it.

Understand, I love that Jared is home. I missed him terribly and am a willing participant in living this life with him. This is only a vent post. This is one of the things we were warned of in Command Spouses' training. We were encouraged to develop some way to vent outside of the community we are in because vents can go up the chain but never down. My husband is the captain so there is no up for me so. There is only here. If you frequent this blog, be be forewarned, you will see the occasional vent. I will keep them to a minimum. ;-)