My adventures!

So, let's see where to begin....

For the past 8-9 months (I lose count), I've been blessed to take care of 3 wonderful children while their mother has been deployed.  She comes home tomorrow, and on the drive home today from their house, I found myself almost in tears at the thought of not spending at least 12 hours a week with them.  I know, I know, they aren't my kids, but they've almost been that for so long that I have almost forgotten what life was like before them!  On top of that, I've managed to pick up 7.5 days of subbing K-2, with another 3 left to go!  Talk about being exhausted!!!  Half those days were spent as such:  7 hours at the school followed by 3-3.5 hours with the other 3 kids (the younger of which are 2 and 4 yr old boys!).  Talk about reasons for exhaustion.  And to top everything off, these boys love to be outside playing at the park at the beach near their house.  So near their house, that we walk there more than drive there!  Let's just say lots of exercise all around, and a nice little tan going--not to mention all the Vitamin D!!!  But, it has been raining here in Okinawa for the better part of the last 3 months...so the boys get to stay inside or play close in their backyard where we can take shelter from sudden downpours!  Despite all the shenanigans these children have brought into my life over the better part of the last year, I will miss them and have to spend the first few weeks reminding myself every Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday that I don't need to go to their house to get them off the bus.

Now, on to my current adventure.  Today while subbing at the school, it started raining as the kids were being dismissed to go home.  Luckily I had my umbrella as it had been raining this morning on the way in, and with as much rain as we've been having, I have at least 2 umbrellas in the car (now, after JJ and I got caught in a downpour in town one night and had to get a couple from the 100 yen store!) so having one was not a problem!  Well, the class I was in is upstairs since it is a 2nd grade class, and we exit the building down the concrete steps outside.  Of course, I made sure to remind all the kids to be careful because the stairs would be slippery from all the rain.  Wouldn't you know that I was the one needing reminding!  As I was coming back inside, I looked up to make sure I wasn't going to run into anyone, and swerved my path a little to avoid another teacher when my shoe caught on one of those rough rubber anti-slip guards that was peeling off the step.  I didn't notice it until I had lost my balance and caught myself as I fell up the stairs, giving me a little rash on my left elbow, a good scrape on the palm of my left hand that required a band-aid to keep blood from getting everywhere, and a bruise with a nice red line across my right knee.  And my umbrella got broken!  So much for my cheap umbrella! At least the rain had let up enough for me to not really need it, but now I'm sitting here typing this with my leg up and an ice pack on my knee, waiting for Motrin to kick in.  Now anyone who knows me knows that an ice pack anywhere can lead to deep "bone and joint" pain for me, so I have to be very desperate to even think about it....yeah, my knee was well on the way to being swollen because I had been walking on it since the incident, and perhaps doing a little crawling on the floor with some little ones.

Now on to my future adventures.  Next week I'm heading back to the states for about 5 weeks!!!  I will be flying in with a friend to help her with her 2 small children (9 months and 4) because her husband won't be able to make the trip for a few weeks (he got back from a TDY 2 days ago).  I will spend a couple days with her and her parents then on to Arkansas!!!  I will be getting to AR the Sat before Memorial Day and will be leaving for Houston (where my brother will be for an internship) on June 19, where I will stay until June 23.  And on June 27 we will by flying back here to Oki!  I will be in time for a friend's wedding reception and hopefully a family Memorial Day gathering.  As I was unable to make it back for my grandmother's funeral, I will be spending a lot of time with my grandfather and other family members.  In fact, I will actually be staying with grandpa.  I'm also looking forward to Wal-Mart!!!!  There are so many things I can get there but can't get here that would make things easier (and cheaper), so I will be mailing quite a few boxes back to myself while I'm gone!  I will be missing out on a few farewells (of folks PCSing from here) while I'm in the states, but that's how the military and life are.  I feel like I missed out on a couple once-in-a-lifetime events over the last several months, and while I know that I can't change that, I want to get as much out of the time that I can spend there as possible.  The problem is that I haven't been seeing too much of JJ lately with all the working I've been doing, and he's working all weekend, so we're trying to squeeze things in later in the evening after we both get off, which can be difficult since he has to get up at 4:30 and then I don't really get back to sleep before I get up at 6:45/7:00.  Oh well, such is life, I guess.

We're grateful for the experiences living here in Okinawa and the people we've been able to meet and do things with.  Other than the distance from family and a Wal-Mart (contrary to popular belief, you can't have everything you order online shipped to you--some things won't be shipped over here by companies), I would stay here for the rest of my life if I could.  Well, I could also use gas prices under $4.00/gallon......