Here I am

I love the summer. Even when it is 97 degrees out.

I chose to do my 8 mile run at the Y today. (by the way, I hit the 500 mile mark of the 500 mile challenge today! Yahoo! Also Congrats to Erica, Billi and Matt who also are done! Oh and Billi just completed Grandma's marathon this weekend too!)

Anyway, even though it was inside in the airconditioning I was still a sweaty mess when I was done. It was so bad I developed a welt on my arm from rubbing on my tank top. I had been considering a 1/2 marathon, but honestly, having to worry about arm chaffing seems slightly high maintanance for me.

What I didn't tell you last week (mostly because I am under strict orders from my husband not to divulge such information on online sources) was that Noah was out of town for 6 solid days. Which just about killed me. Especially since it was VBS week. He was in Seattle dining on clam chowder and sushi and I was home eating the leftover Easy Mac and managing his 4 year old Tee ball team. Nice trade.

But we are very grateful that he has a job, and of course we are ultra grateful to all of our wonderful family that always assists in the childcare realm.

One of my VBS assistants was an older woman named Carolyn. It is awesome that she helps with preschoolers. Anyway, we were chatting and she knew that Noah was gone. She mentioned that when her kids were little her husband traveled for work and would be gone 2 weeks at a time. Of course there were no cell phones, and she said that he would call 1 time a week. She chuckled and than said, "I am surprised he even called. Everytime he called some crisis would have just occured and I would just cry the whole phone conversation. Those single parenting times are not one of the high points of most marriages."

And I laughed and thanked her for sharing.

Because the phone conversations we shared last week were not highlights of our marriage either.

There was a message left: "where are your drill bits?"

And another: "I locked myself out of the house...but don't worry I climbed through a window"

And another: "do you think I could pull the stump in the front yard out with our minivan?"

And then the converations: N: "What are you doing?"

J: "I am sitting in the hallway outside the boys rooms keeping Lincoln in one room and the other boys in the other. And I just brushed 3 sets of gnashing teeth. What are you doing?"

N: "Well, we just got back from the Falls and I think we are going to grab something to eat."

J: "I really need you to come home now. I am going to have a nervous breakdown."

N: "I can't come home now."

J: "But I want you to."

I won't go on.

Needless to say, I am glad he is home.

And yes, I missed more than just his mad teethbrushing skills.