the rules:

• simply post a photo of something that makes you wildly happy.

the man.

true story #1 - 15 year old boy asks #2 to prom. (when your graduating class includes only 18 or so folks, the entire high school gets to go to prom) #2 says no. 15 year old boy is in the play godspell. after watching the play, the man walks up on the stage to shake the hand of 15 year old boy and to tell him, "job well done." he then pulls 15 year old boy into the manly handshake-hug (you've seen it done) and whispers in his ear, "stay away from my daughter."

true story #2 - #1 has a presentation to give in his model united nations class - his topic is the fifth united nation millennium development goal - maternal health. he asks the man to be a "guest speaker". the man breaks the ice with this gem, "hi, i'm #1's dad. obviously i'm where he gets his good looks from. and girls, if you're interested in him, 25 years from now, it's possible he'll look a lot like this." and gestures to himself.

i think he might be losing his cool dad rep.

the man has just returned from indonesia. he was gone four days - which is a short time in comparison to his normal trips. but, when you figure in his next most recent trip was 3 weeks long and had him returning late last saturday night (giving him a little over 2 days at home) it didn't feel so short. i have people ask me all the time "how do you do it?" how do we manage the comings and goings. and my answer is we just do. i don't mean to sound flippant, but it's one of those things that we do because we have to. we knew that the traveling and the seperation came with this job - with this opportunity to live in thailand. but knowing it and adjusting to it are two very different things. and sometimes it is hard.

when he's not here the whole family dynamic changes. basically, we function as a single parent family. but single parenting when you're not really a single parent can be difficult. it's not so great for the kids to have only me at home. i am not the fun parent. i am the one that is most likely to say, "no." when i'm reacting to something, i try hard to think about how he would react and balance my over the top with his a bit more laid back nature. i frequently don't succeed.

but apart from the parenting thing there's the whole he's my spouse thing. you know, the "we're in this together" thing. except, often we're not. at least not geographically. and i find myself becoming resentful. the bills, the kids, meal planning, household or car repairs (planned and surprise) and any other day to day thing (like bicycle-vs.-motorcy-not-really-an-accident accidents) all fall to me when he's gone. and i handle it all. not always well, but it usually gets taken care of. the odd thing is that the things that bother me most are the things i would be responsible for if he were home. i read an article the other day and this quote was in it (you can click on the quote for the full article).

The difficulty of living out the married life at a distance is that the independence you need to develop in order to function well apart, directly challenges the healthy interdependence that defines a good marriage when you are together.

this is obviously going to be a woe is me, oh my life sucks post. and i'm just gonna tell you in advance that i would appreciate it greatly if you would all post the following in the comments. you can even go a little crazy and adlib, if you like. but i'd really, really like it if it had the same flavor. and then go get your friends to do the same. it would really make me feel better. much better.

"oh, you poor woman. you should just have yourself a good cry. let it all out. he is a bad, bad man. as a matter of fact, he's just awful! oh, and i must say, you're lookin' good, girl! have you lost weight?"

okay, so on with it. the man has taken himself off to ulaanbaatar, mongolia. and gone dark. i haven't heard from him since friday. and he was at his hotel at the time. and he was getting ready to go to dinner. and he said, "i'll skype you after dinner." well, he still must be eating. so i googled the hotel and discovered that they do indeed have free dsl. and i called the hotel, so i know they have a phone system. but there was one thing they didn't have - a reservation for the man. now, i'm sure if something awful had happened to him i would have heard, right? i mean by now, surely i would have heard something. but so far, nada. so i'm assuming he's alright. and thank God nothing bad has happened here since i have absolutely no way to reach him. his sim card doesn't work for his cell. and the real problem in all of this - i have no friends here. i have no one here i can call because i'm having a bad day or because i want to have a conversation with someone who doesn't call me mom. and don't say get out there. do something. this post is not about what i can do or should do... it's about feeling sorry for me - because it's all about me. and just in case you don't feel bad for me just yet, remember, we don't have tv, i mean, we have tv, but we have no satellite, none. and hulu is only available in the states.

the man went to pick up the kids from school for me. this is usually my chore favorite thing to do, but yesterday i just wasn't feeling like it. and turned out it was his lucky day.

in #2's class they are studying decades. they are broken up into small groups and each group has a different decade. #2's group has the 70's. another group has the 80's. (i love the 80's) and in their report they seem to have including a bit about aids, and homosexuality, and prostitution. and when the man picked up #2 she was just chock full of questions. see these things were just mentioned, not actually discussed, but she had the feeling that everyone else in class knew what they were talking about, everyone but her. so she asked the man a few questions and the man believes in telling the whole truth and nothing but the truth and didn't feel like he could give her a proper answer unless he started at the beginning - with a talk about human anatomy. and for those of us who know and love the man, we know that no serious conversation can happen without a diagram. and because i like to share, i scanned it so we could all see. here it is...

i wish i could tell you after seeing that i felt some relief, but instead what i felt was a growing sense of panic. because i wasn't sure exactly what was included in this diagram and i've got those parts. so i had him explain. and here's the diagram with the explanations...

and after the man explained it to me he said, "maybe you should have a talk with her, too. you know, just to clarify things."

and so you guys don't worry. #2 and i have actually had this talk - but it looked nothing like this. and i'm assuming that's why she didn't recognize it.

so, bh snores. he snores and he stops breathing while he's sleeping. his doctor recommended him for a sleep study and our insurance, who does everything top notch, sent us a kit. which means, i'm running a sleep lab. bh says i'm not. even though i have been thoroughly trained - i watched a 5 minute video that taught me everything i need to know. and i have proof that i'm running a sleep lab, see...

see the little sleep study computer. it's on our handy, dandy night stand. (since we've sold all of our bedroom furniture, we're sleeping on a mattress on the floor and he must use a small appliance box for his night stand. there was nothing in my training that said this was frowned upon.) he also has the breathing monitor attached right up there under his nose. he has a chest monitor on, too, but it's under the covers. and a finger monitor. all of this is attached to his little wrist unit that is attached to the little sleep study computer. it's all legit. i've got to run this lab for 3 nights. then i pack up all the above listed equipment and send it to my esteemed colleagues who plug the little sleep study computer into a bigger computer to get the results. these guys aren't qualified to run a sleep study lab, only the highly qualified - like me - get to actually work with the patients.

my office is working under a bit of a time crunch. turns out january 10, the patient and his family could be leaving for their new home in a new country on a new continent. yes, i said we could be moving one week from today. if you remember the pictures i posted about our last moving sale - if not, they're here - the condition of our house isn't all that different at this moment. i think that means it's time to get busy.