You Did What While I Was Gone?!

The weekend feels like it was parts of several all in one. And I'm pretty flipping tired. Friday night was great. Joe and I went out with our couple and hit a sushi bar. We had a blast. At one point or another everyone laughed. Hard. We ate great food, had drinks, and genuinely seemed to get along. I'm realizing more and more the importance of military friends. They understand you. Period. The wife, my friend Sarah, is completely on the same page with me on things. Most importantly we understand how much it means to spend TIME with our husbands. If one of us has the opportunity to hang with their respective husband while we're hanging out together, the other always offers to bail. That time together is like gold, and neither of us got enough of it in the past year. Also, we've had to sacrifice in ways that partners in non-military couples will never understand. It's quite a comradery. I'm really glad I have her as a friend. Speaking of, they have a little bloodhound puppy, so Dex has a friend too!

On Saturday morning we made an unplanned trip to the vet because Dex's eye was oozing. He has a tiny scratch on his cornea, so we have to give him antibiotics for a bit...on his eye. Not too difficult, actually. I like our vet; she's a no nonsense kind of gal. By that, when she said something to the effect of our dog having a great home, it made me so happy. It was wonderfully reassuring to know that we're not fucking our dog up. Woohoo.

By Saturday afternoon, I was headed for a quick trip to SC. Since Joe couldn't go, I decided not to make a weekend out of it. So it was 4.5 hours over yesterday evening, and another 4.5 back this morning. Too.much.driving. PUKE. But, I took care of my business, and everything was safely accomplished. I got back at around noon today, and I'd really missed Joe and Dex. I had not been apart from Joe since our most recent reunion until this weekend. It was weird. When I walked in the house, Dex made his howly bark and ran over, happy to see me. There is no other feeling to compare to that of a dog happy to see you. Last fall when I was pretty sad and lonely, I'd walk in my aunt's house after working a temp job, and her dogs would run up to me, tails a' waggin'. It actually made me cry once. Very cool feeling. Aside from Dex, Joe was happy to see me too. It seems he missed me as well. Not only that, he ran the dish washer, folded laundry, cleaned up the dog poop in the backyard, downloaded Rosetta Stone off AKO so that I can learn French to speak with him, and generally straightened shit up. It was awesome. I was so caught up in all of that and the dog that I almost didn't catch something else that he was trying to tell me. I really don't even remember how he said it - something to the effect that he "zipped himself" at some point on Saturday night. I didn't get it at first, but then it clicked. My eyes grew wide, and then I cracked a smile and asked, "Did ya get the beans above the frank?" He said no beans were involved. And that children, is why Uncle Joe opted to wear underwear today. Good stuff.

Tonight we took Dex to his first training. I think it went well. Jeffy, the trainer, is a little bit sassy, but when I think about the PetSmart clientele, I have a better understanding of why. I'll spare you all the boring crap, but we did get help on how to walk him on a leash. Also, we ended up buying Dex a mini kiddy pool for the backyard. It's for digging, not swimming. He's a fantastic little digger, but so he'll stop digging up the fucking yard, we're going to fill the little pool with sand and treats. And in the summer I can fill it up with water and park my ass in it. Oh yeah.

Not much more to the weekend than that, except for a few new developments with the fam. A couple weeks ago my grandpa (Dad's dad) was diagnosed with alzheimers. I guess crap in Pennsylvania (where my Dad's fam lives) has been an on and off mess since then. When I called on Saturday to talk to my uncle, he said that earlier in the day Pop had made the claim that the woman he's living with (his wife - my grandmother) is in fact not his wife and as such, he couldn't live with her. My uncle brought him down to his (and my aunt's) house, while my aunt stayed at the g'parents' house to talk with my frenzied grandmother. Uncle Jim said once he got Pop to their house he was fine - knew who everyone was, joked around, and was watching Penn State play on the TV. The theory is that due to my grandma's bullying for the past 50+ years, Pop's now returning the favor. Also, when I talked to Pop he was completely coherent. He actually sounded younger, and for a minute I didn't know who I was talking to. He had to tell me, "This is your grandpop." Ha. He asked how Georgia is and Joe (whom he's never met but remembers). We had a good talk. I know alzheimers can go in and out of spells, but if you've ever met Mimi, you might be inclined to think it IS something more right now. Either way, I wonder if I can put all of this into some sort of David Sedaris style book one day. Mom has always told me to write about the family. Maybe I will.