Survivor: The Week Without Dad - Day 6

Day 6 – Thursday

I can tell the week is really starting to catch up with me. I hate going to bed at night without Mike here so I just stay up watching TV while lying in bed because I’m too tired to sit and concentrate on anything at the computer. Then, I have to wake up early to get it all done to get out the door in time for school.

I got up at 5 am as usual this morning but ended up back in bed to try to catch a few more winks. I was dragging pretty much and I goofed around just enough that Sarah was late to school. Not by more than just a minute or so, but I felt defeated none-the-less.

I was scheduled today to have lunch with Sarah’s class to give her teacher a break. You see, our school is mostly in portable buildings right now and the grammar school kids have no central cafeteria. They have lunch in their rooms, which means that their teachers stay and have lunch with them. So we, as parents, like to come and take over for a few minutes as much as we can to give our sweet teachers a break. The kids in Sarah’s class are all pretty much good kids, but the boys in this year’s class seem like they are likely a hand-full. Oh my! I need to go in with more of a game-face on next time.

Today was the kids’ last day in after school care for the week. That was a mile-stone for me. That let me know that the week is almost over.

Sarah was supposed to have her first soccer practice today. However, there was no soccer practice because, shocker, it rained… again. We just had a short meeting with her coaches and the team and got our jerseys. They are awful. Burnt Orange.

We know her coach from church and we know that they are Longhorn fans. So I gave him the look as he SWORE up and down that he did NOT request that color. The other coach, who is a good Ag, backed him up on it and assured me that the goalie jersey would be maroon. “And we all know,” he said, “that every kid wants to wear that goalie jersey.”

True enough.

We were even a little late to our soccer team meeting so that we could talk to Dad for just a few minutes on Skype. Since this wasn’t a real practice, I didn’t mind having her be a few minutes late so that she could talk to her Dad.

We got home and I had the kids out riding their bikes while I got dinner ready. I looked around the mess that was my kitchen, took a peek in the fridge and then went outside and loaded up the kids and went to Taco Casa.

Yeah. It was that kind of a night.

Once the kids were in bed, I was sitting here at my computer working and Mike tried to call. We spent a good 20-30 minutes trying to get video and audio all working correctly and I ended up having to completely re-boot my computer. But we finally did get it to work and we had the greatest talk.

As it turns out, it was Friday morning his time and they had already gone back into Beijing with hopes of doing some sight-seeing. However, with the coming of the 60th anniversary of the formation of the communist party there in the PRC (People’s Republic of China) everything was shut down for a parade rehearsal. The Forbidden City, Tienanmen Square and the whole surrounding area. Shut down.

Can you imagine being in Beijing for the first (and possibly only) time and just twiddling your thumbs in your hotel room because there’s nothing to do?

Well, it worked in my favor because I got to just sit and talk to my man without the kidlets muscling in on my time. We laughed and joked and talked about our weeks, politics, church stuff, kid stuff and nothing at all. It was like he was sitting right here with me.

I loved it.

And I feel like it is going to be just enough to get me through until Saturday.