Do you think it could be a bad sign that after experiencing my driving from North Dallas to downtown, Mark jumped at my offer to drive my minivan himself?
In a weekend that could have been all about driving, driving, and more driving, meeting Mark made our weekend. In fact, the day the kids and I spent with him has been the highlight of our month.
On Friday, I was sure that I couldn't take even one more second of being me. In fact, I happened to have Patrick on my cell phone as I finished packing, changed my son who had an accident, rushed to get a change of clothes to my daughter who had an accident at a birthday party, and got stuck on base because the gates were all closed. I swear if he hadn't been talking me through it I would have lost it big time. My neighbors who were washing their cars without shirts helped distract me though.
But once we got on the road to Dallas, things were fine. The kids are finally at an age where we can travel comfortably. Of course, having a VCR in the van helps. Between watching movies, they asked me a million questions about Mr. Mark, our new puppy, and the fish in the aquarium we were going to visit.
It's funny, because in his post, Mark talked about being nervous to meet us. But I never would have guessed that. And I was strangely not nervous to meet him at all. I hoped the kids would behave, but they usually do.
I soon as I gave Mark a hug, the kids moved in for their hugs. Too cute! I mean, I know they're not shy, but it was like they had an instant new friend.
It's kind of hard to explain to anyone who hasn't been a waiting spouse with small kids, but just having another adult on an outing was the biggest relief I could have ever experienced. I was able to relax just one small iota and enjoy the kids and the aquarium, secure in the knowledge that my eyes weren't the only ones looking out for the kids. And of course that is a testament to Mark, who I happen to think is the sweetest man ever. He was wonderful with them.
In fact my daughter invited him to her ballet recital and my son made a pillow out of him at Hunky's in the 'hood. My son claimed him as my friend Mr. Mark. We went to the Galleria that night and everywhere we went, the kids were looking for Mark.
And since I know you're all wondering (and at the risk of embarrassing him), Mark kept up the blogger tradition of being way nicer looking in person than in pictures. Not that he doesn't take a nice photograph, but man! How is it that so many bloggers are so hot?
The next morning, we started our three-hour trek down to Austin to pick up our new puppy. She's a Maltese and, yes, we did name her Buffy. I was just throwing out names and the kids picked right up on that one. Which is funny, because I instantly regretted suggesting it. But she really does look like a Buffy.
It took us six hours to get home, and she barely made a peep the whole way. The kids were amazingly good too. It's hard to believe that a weekend in which I spent about twelve hours driving two little kids and a puppy around Texas could be such a break. But it really was.
Unfortunately, the husband and I had a bit of a fight through e-mail and on the phone last night. I hate that. There's nothing worse than fighting when he's deployed. And the thing that kills me is that I wasn't intending to fight. At all. But I couldn't say anything right and he took everything I said the wrong way. Ugh. In fact, as soon as I publish this, I'm off to write him an e-mail.
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