Today I convinced myself to walk to work!! (my holiday job as school is out, vacation care) (3kms) and I even managed to walk the 3kms home again, although the bus did drive past when I was about 3/4 of the way home taunting me with it's comfortable seating and air conditioning. It was a beautifully warm day today - under my hat and sunscreen (to prevent getting burnt to a crisp by the very strong sun down here.) It actually was a nice walk, except for the dead and bloated furry native animal and the traffic noise. Up hill and down dale, as you can't walk a straight line in this neighbourhood without traveling up and down many, many hills (kind of makes the 3kms seem much.....longer). I have been trying to talk myself into walking into work for about a week but you know how it is you always manage to think up of an excuse not too. The best one being I just need another 1/2 hours sleep, cause I have been developing the nasty habit of going to bed at 11pm/12am (yawn!) and then I struggggggle to get out of bed in the morning.....particularly when I start at 8:30am. So anyway I won the war with myself today and walked to work (I didn't start till 12:30 so that helped lol I got to have a sleep in :)
I was looking at the calendar in the toilet earlier and writing our family birthdays in....when it occurred to me that January has nearly passed by in a blurr. We spent a fairly uneventful, but very windy Australia Day and I still get into the habit of my brain saying that it is time to go back to work, as I have done for 10 years as a teacher in Qld we usually go back to work just after or around Australia Day. Also as a Defence spouse I have the good fortune (or bad depending on the day) to move around our rather large country. And at the moment we are posted rather a long way from our home state of Queensland (to the Apple Isle) - my first interstate posting, as we have been lucky enough to remain in Qld for the last 3 postings :)
Anyway, as January seems to have gone by so quickly, it got me thinking about how we write all of these future events in our calendars at the start of the year, thinking about how long it will take to get to said event/s and the time really does go past fast. (except of course if your partner is deployed or on course or out bush....in which case time usually drags by at a snails pace - in between the dramas that usually punctuate any absence of ones partner - sick children, broken cars/house hold appliance and any number of other things which stress us out). So for all of those women/men out there counting down the days on their calendars until their loved ones are home again, I hope the time goes quickly for you....maybe turtle pace....and with the least amount of stressful events that is possible. And for those whose partners wont ever return, because they and you have made the ultimate sacrifice, may your days through the grief process be eased by the support of friends and family. I always think of those who have lost their loved ones when thinking about deployments, more so ever since a fellow defence wife who I met during our first posting (we had a lot in common and she helped me through some difficult times and I her), sadly her husband was killed overseas on deployment, serving his country. We had drifted apart through postings but recently, when I heard the name I knew that it was her husband and was immediately saddened by her and her families loss of their love one. It is a risk of many professions, including the defence forces and although none of us is ever immune to the death of a loved one through many and varied ways, the deaths of soldiers always hit other defence wives/partners hard. In part because we think that it could be us.
Hopefully this year will not see the deaths of any more Australian soldiers overseas. Although I know they would be proud to do so and their families are forever proud of them also. It is the hardest thing for all of us to deal with. (not sure if that makes any sense, it is late and I may not be making sense any longer.) I think of my friend and her family often and hopefully my thoughts and positive energy and hugs can help her in some way. For all of the other wives/partners who have loved ones overseas, may they return to you safely in 2012.
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