The Living before "The Moment"

Noah and I have been filling our mornings with activities...Wednesday we went to the library and returned some of our books and got new ones.  We stayed for story time but the reader didn't show up for some reason...so us moms took turns reading the books.  Noah wasn't too interested and we slipped out after a few stories.  He was more into running around the picking out books...then flop down to take a look for a minute or two...and then off again to pull a book from a shelf.  Also that morning Noah felt his first earthquake.  He was sitting on the couch watching Handy Manny before we took off for the library.  The house started shaking and he yells MOM!  I was on the computer and said it's okay, buddy.  He replies okay, mom.  And that was that.  But then the rest of the day he kept signing shake! LOL.  I believe it was a 4.5 on the U.S. scale and the epicenter was above tokyo.  I wouldn't say that the items in the house shake...but it's like the whole house shakes.  I remember my experience in Evansville when an earthquake happened in Illinois and the items in my room shook...in a wooden frame apartment.  But in this concrete building...it moves with the ground...if that makes sense?  Also that afternoon I finally met up with a girl from the Holland area and we just chatted and got to know each other.  We will be dining out for Lunch on Sunday at my Chinese restaurant.  I've been craving it...we however have not found crab ragoon and this make my pregnant stomach very sad!  Noah had a difficult time going to bed that evening and kept yelling for Zack.  He would run to the front door and say Dad..bye bye.  Then followed by the sign work and then his sign for money....Dad went bye bye to work to earn money.  And this was over and over again.  Poor guy.

Thursday we did PT Tots in the morning and worked in Bean's room getting her clothes and things ready.  Also getting this organized for Zack to work on when he comes home...he already has a hunny do list!  The NEX has a poor of an excuse store dedicated to children's clothing.  And it's actually cheaper to buy items online and pay for priority shipping than to shop with their limited supply.  I'm going to have to find a good store out in town, but the problem with that is because of the slipping value of the dollar...we get less and less Yen for our money.  We are given something called COLA(cost of living allowance) for living overseas...which also means a high cost area.  This money is set on the dollar to yen rate and the talk going around is that COLA will be increased to make up for the slipping value of American money.  And buying things in Japan isn't cheap compared to America.  I am told that soon my definition of cheap will be in Japan standards and not American.  For example...when buying an item I divide the Yen by the conversion rate...right now 75ish Yen per dollar.  I then am given a U.S. dollar amount that I can use to compare...but instead of comparing it to the value of the item in the U.S...you compare it to the value of other similar items here in Japan.  One would think that we all would just skip the conversion to the U.S. dollar since it really holds no bearing in comparing the cost of items...but we don't...also lets us know how much money will come out of the checking account(U.S. dollars).  Just as an example to play in the local mall's child area it costs 570 Yen...this is 7.60 USD...this is cheap in Japan.  Living here we are somewhat sheltered from the poor economy in the U.S...except for the Yen rate and the fact that the base doesn't have the budget for everything that wants/needs to be done to improve it for children and families.  This is one of the reasons why everyone...and I mean everyone says that once you come here you won't want to go back to the U.S....and if you do...you return.  Actually spoke with someone that returned to the U.S. during the evacuation after just living here 5 or so months.  She said everything seemed dirty and run down...people were rude(that doesn't even exist here), it didn't seem safe(it isn't uncommon to see children 5 or so years old walking themselves home from school or riding in a train by themselves), and the list goes on.  We got so many bad reactions for people when we said that we picked orders for Japan...and I will admit that before we had considered this duty station...I also had a poor image of this country in my head.  I don't know why or where that prejudice came from...but we now say...don't knock it until you come.  And once you come...you will really enjoy your time visiting!

Last night was the first night since being in our new home that Noah slept the entire night.  His adjustment period got thrown off by Zack's departure.  So...here's to hoping that it sticks...and he continues to sleep through the night...at least until Zack leaves again!  He got up about an hour or so earlier than usual and I could tell right away that it was going to be a rough day.  He's been crying and getting upset over nothing, very clingy, grouchy...I finally gave him some tylenol.  But Noah has a strange reaction to tylenol and motrin that they don't put on the label.  He gets mean, ornery, and very difficult!  No idea why it does this to him but it's almost just as worse as dealing with him being cranky(other than the fact that he was in pain without it)!  I emailed Zack and filled him in on our day so far...and he emailed me back some words of support.  He's always so great about being there for me even when he's away.  And dealing with a screaming, crying, and agitated toddler all morning on my own led me to this thought.  I know of two Homecoming TV shows on air right now...where people sit down at night to watch those joyful reunions...to watch children see their dads and moms after being away from them months on end...to see wives and husbands share that kiss.  I personally avoid these shows like the plague.  I have no desire to watch those Homecomings when I have had my own wonderful experiences because what those shows don't feature is the months or even years of struggling and living that those families did before that wonderful moment is captured.  People sit there and tear up at the raw emotions of happiness captured on camera...but when I see those moments I tear up because of all those other emotions that are hidden under the happiness.  The tears of gratitude at a spouse that has been there even when they couldn't be in person, of relief at no longer having to mow the grass, do all the chores, and keep up the juggeling act you've mastered over the course of the deployment, of nervousness about reuniting, a feeling of support because you can now hand your screaming toddler to your spouse and kindly ask them to figure out what in the heck is his issue!...and just about every emotion you can name we feel it while they are away and during that Homecoming.  It's a terrible intimate moment.  So...why on earth isn't there a TV show to capture everything before that moment?  I suppose that the American TV watchers are just content in watching the Homecoming and not have to think about the living and even sometimes struggling that happened during the months or years of deployment...they after all don't want to watch a spouse chasing after a naked screaming toddler as he is determined to cause chaos along his path!  I wouldn't change it for anything though...I love being a military spouse!