Be a good neighbor

Because State Farm isn't in our neighborhood.

I could have sworn today was Friday and not Monday.  While the boys were fairly okay in shuffling out the door, the breakfast conversation wasn't exactly normal.

While eating his breakfast, Colin mentions a girl on the bus saying she hates them.  I sussed out from him it's a girl on the street behind us.  She's a bit of a snot, like her mom, so I'm not exactly concerned about her saying she doesn't like the boys.  Seriously, the girl is a brat, her mom barely acknowledges us when we're out with Murphy.  No big deal.

What bothers me is her proceeding in telling the boys our backyard neighbor (is that the right term?), the Orrs, hate us.  Yes, I know the boys can be loud.  Colin could wake the dead if he so desired.  Yes, I realize our 12 tomato plants fizzled across the back fence, making our yard look like shit.  Yes, I realize they're odd balls in their own right.  Do I think they hate us?  No because I've had enough conversations with Mrs. Orr to know she wouldn't acknowledge us if she truly hated us.  She's blunt.  She doesn't mince words.  She's joked about the exuberance of the boys, laughing that they're mine and not hers.  All the while acknowledging her kids were muted in their play.  I've had other neighbors confirm how their kids were as toddlers.

I proceeded in talking with Colin about how it's okay for kids to not like them, not everyone will.  It's okay for us to not be friends with everyone on the block and how if the Orrs hated us I'd never get a wave from her.  Please let me believe this fantasy, k?  I told him there are enough people in our neighborhood who like us, who like them, it more than balances out a snotty girl and her family.

Neighborhood dynamics are a bitch.  And people wonder why I sit on the porch with a drink in my hand.

Conversations around the dinner table

Brendan: Mom, guess what I'm thinking.

Me: No.

Brendan: Please Mom. Just guess what I'm thinking.

Me: No.

Brendan: I'll give you a hint. It's either butt, penis or vagina.

Cue giggling from Colin sitting across the table.

Me: Butt.

Brendan: No. I'm thinking vagina.

Me: Why are you thinking of vagina's?

Brendan: Because there are some hot girls out there.

On the road again

I was reading a friend's blog earlier where she posted pictures someone had taken when their family said goodbye to her husband before he deployed.

No matter how many deployments you've been through, they're never easy. You find different coping mechanisms to help you during the months your spouse is gone. Many times the crux is if you have kids, their ages, what you're involved in, etc..

Each deployment changes both of you. Sometimes in a good way, sometimes not.

I don't think I've said goodbye to Jason without crying. His last deployment I ended up leaving with the boys because I couldn't stop crying. They didn't need to see me this upset nor did Jason need his wife bawling more then the other spouses. I'll also throw in how late it was and the company not heading out until the wee hours of the morning.

All of this reminded me of a bittersweet goodbye which also had us laughing. Jason had come back to Germany on emergency medical leave since Colin was in the kinderintensivstation, aka NICU. He stayed home for a month before leaving again. Colin was home for all of two days before we headed out to the airport at Rhein-Main for the second time that day.

We're sitting in the car outside of the terminal around 2am waiting for the flight. In front of us on the curb was a soldier and his girlfriend making out. I'm not talking a bit of kissing here and there. The only thing keeping them from having sex were their clothes. I don't think being outside would have stopped either one of them.

Jason commented he should stop them since the soldier was in uniform, they were on base and out in the open for everyone to see. Only he didn't because we knew his goodbye was imminent as were the soldiers. Oh yes, there were two of them making out. The other was in a car parked a few spaces away. They gave us quite a show too.

As we watched them make out, we joked they weren't married or had kids. They had the boundless energy of new sex with new people. Those were the days.