Cue the cheesy 80's rock ballad music...
Yes, folks, another patrol is upon us. I can only look at it like another check-mark on the list of patrols that we DON'T have looming in front of us. This is a good thing.
So, I know I haven't posted in a while, and the simple reason is that I've had a serious bad attitude the past few weeks. I like to chalk that up to what I call "Pre-Deployment Syndrome". Jake thinks this is a made-up condition so that people can get away with having a bad attitude about being deployed. Well, it's not made up, thank you very much, and it happens to be the leading cause of attitude problems in spouses during the weeks leading up to "D"-ployment day. Here are some symptoms I experienced:
Emotional flat-lining or "checking out early": Don't ask me what's for dinner a week before you leave for 3 months. I don't know. Did the kids eat? Not sure. What did you say? I'm really enjoying this game of online Scrabble I'm playing with Sarah right now. We'll figure out dinner later. Oh, it's 7:45? Oh, okay...
Lame squabbles about nothing: Why did you just carry those paper plates from the dining room table all the way into the kitchen and set them on the counter?? You just walked right by the garbage can. Are you going to deal with those now or are you just going to leave them sitting there? You know, you could have just thrown them out. What? You are going to scrape the leftover food into the sink? Why didn't you just throw the entire thing into the garbage can when YOU JUST WALKED BY IT?? Throwing food into the garbage can is NOT gross. Making the extra effort to carry it to the sink to scrape it into the garbage disposal is lame. Plus, I think I might remember being told by some people that these disposals are cheap and not capable of doing too much extra work. Putting that food down it will break it. No, food in the garbage can will not start stinking before you have a chance to take it out to the dumpster! AAAHHHH!!
Not doing things that need to be done: This will not postpone the deployment or get Spousy-poo out of the whole thing altogther. He will need clean socks and underpants while he's gone, and just because you don't do it doesn't mean he won't go.
Little emotional mini-outbursts in closets: This works great when you don't want him to know you're having issues about him leaving for 3 months. Oh, yeah, I'm strong. I can take it. You married Super Woman, don't you remember? I can do anything. Now, I'll be right back...I just need to go get something out of this closet over here...WAAAAHHHHH! Whoo...a splash of cold water and a little pressed powder and you're ready to get back into the thick of things again.
So, let this be a little insight into what people go through when they are suffering from "Pre-deployment syndrome", and just remember: it's real. It exists. It sucks.
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3 comments:
I definitely believe that this syndrome exists. I've experienced some of these symptoms (on a much milder case) when I have been on vacation and spending a ton of time with Brian and then have to go back to LB for the work. I'm sure some lame squabbles about nothing will be happening in about a week when my vacation is over.
i'll be there with you in a month! big huggs girl! lets do coffee next week sometime and the gym. i realized the aerobics room is a good place to take benji. i didnt know it was so huge and had toys in there. he crawled around for and hour, chasing those huge exercise balls and such and he slept the whole nite through on saturday! so yeah, lets go get rid of stress. we can scream in there loud and i bet no one would hear us too!
I call pre-deployment syndrome the Every-Day-Audrey Syndrome.
Would it help if I taped a Twinkie to your door every day? You know, portion controlled delight. I was thinking about it.
I'm here if you need me.
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