This is tiring

The other day after we had lunch with our family & their friends, we were leaving & talked about calling Daddy and wondering how he was doing. Bethany commented, "I guess this is what it was like when the dads used to go off to war. Except now we have phones & computers." She's read a lot about events in the 40's with WW2 & dads going off to fight. I told her that dads and moms still go off to war now, and yes, it is nice to have phones & computers.

In my head, though, I thought, "HOW do families do that? How do they get through when one parent is gone for so long?" Maybe they don't all homeschool. Maybe they are just used to it being like that. All I know is I don't want to be a single mom! And hats off to those who are!

Driving to Temple from New Braunfels (where my parents live) should take about 2 hours. Phil can make it from San Antonio (even further) to Temple in under 2. Funny how that works! It took us nearly 3 1/2 hrs. today to get from Temple to NB. We were "parked" on I-35 in Austin at 6:30. Anyone who has EVER been on I-35 in Austin at just about any time of day knows what I mean. Plus, it rained all day. I was in my mom's cute little Buick Regal that rides so smoothly I tended to drive too fast going to Temple, but coming home it was S-L-O-W. We didn't get to our house til after 9. We are supposed to be up at 8:30 so we can get ready for co-op. The girls didn't get in bed & fall asleep til just before Midnight. Natalie's tummy is sick. My dad cleaned the car out for us today, which was very nice. Though, I feel like I get the "loser Mom" award for letting it get that dirty. I think he cleaned it so well that it scared the car. It was doing weird things on the way home, like the lights inside wouldn't stay off, and the electric lock was going off all by itself. This is one of those little things Phil would look at & would say, "I can fix that now," and go do it, or "I'll look at it this weekend," Or, "We have to take it in to fix this." He just knows how to figure that stuff out. If Natalie's tummy problems turn into the throwing up stuff, I'm toast. THAT is what Phil deals with so well.

I am quite tired & need to go put myself in bed. I wonder if this is how moms feel when dads go off to war. Or if this is how everyone feels when they have parents who are in dire straits in the hospital. I can only hope that mom's knee replacement will not be this involved. I'm not liking this yearly occurrence of having a parent in the ICU.

Good night!