Silencing the Clock

Monday, Monday! Its the dawn of another day which in turn is the start of another week. I'm very excited. Why? Only because one of my favorite people ever is our guest poster today! She is G.I. Joe's Wife and adorable. Her middle name is also my first name. Yeah, we are meant to be. Be sure to check her gorgeous self out and share the blog love!



"It’s every Milie’s worst enemy: the deployment clock. Your hubby gets news that he’s leaving and almost in that instant, the countdown begins, right? You start thinking things like, “We’ve got X number of days left,” or “only a week left,” or “how can I fit all this into a few days?”

Then, D-Day rolls around and the countdown to his return begins. Those first few days, you can almost hear the clock screaming at you. Or, I can at least. Telling me that he’s only been gone for a day, a week, a month and I still have a long way to go. Even my Donut of Misery tells me this! It’s cruel, really.

So, the question is: How do we make it stop?! How do we make that clock (or calendar) stop screaming at us?

I think that everyone is different, but one thing that seems to be suggested by everyone is to “stay busy.” My thoughts when I read or hear someone say this is, “Well, that’s helpful.” Stay busy. That’s kind of a broad statement, don’t you think?

My advice would be to do something that you love doing. Or even several things. For example, if you’re interested in sewing, go by a cheap sewing machine! Take classes, find patterns and things online and teach yourself. If you’re interested in photography, you can most definitely take classes. Or you can just get out there and take pictures of everything you love, and then come home and edit them on your computer.

For me, it’s been most important to get out of the house. I don’t have a job, we have no kids and our dog isn’t on the island yet. I’ve only met a few people here, so my contacts are limited. Luckily, I’ve been able to meet two great ladies through blog-land. Oh, I don’t know what I’d do without my BB’s!! I also started volunteering. It took me about a month after Joe left to feel like doing anything, but I finally pushed myself and got to work. I’m volunteering at the on-post museum. I have a history degree, and I’m so excited to finally be using it! Even if I’m not getting paid, at least I’m doing something.

I’m also getting out and meeting new people. This is a scary one for me. I’m a pretty introverted person, which is why I had to push myself to start volunteering. I’m totally fine staying in the house all day, and seeing very few people. But, with my husband gone... I start to go crazy after a couple days. Meeting new people is key. This week, I’m going to my first FRG potluck/meeting. I’m kind of nervous about it, but I’m also excited. I don’t know very many of the wives in Joe’s unit, and I desperately need to feel a connection with this post.

Finding a good church has also been an issue with me. We’d only been on the island for two months when Joe deployed, and one month of that was spend without a car or house. We spent the second month visiting churches, but nothing fit. Two weeks after he’d been gone, I found the church. I felt at home instantly. The message was exactly what I needed to hear and the worship was just phenomenal. I was home. I still need to get connected in church by joining a small group, but that will come soon. It’s only been a little over a month.

I silence that deployment clock by tricking it. =) I find things to pass the time, even when I’m at home all day. I’ve got hobbies: scrapbooking, wreath-making and I’m about to take up sewing. I want a good camera, but I’ve decided to wait a little while on that. I’ve got good friends that I can have fun with and go to church with. I’m volunteering - using my degree and meeting new people in the process. There are still hard days. Days when I long to see his face, feel his touch, hear his voice, see him walk in the door. But, I think I can say that I’m doing what I can to kick this deployment’s butt! =)

So, how do you silence that nagging deployment clock?"