Germany

On Friday, March 18th, Steven was told by his boss that he would be asked to help fulfill a contract General Dynamics holds with the Army/Air Force in Stuttgart, Germany. The following Monday, he learned that it was a certainty and for the following week, he and I began the process of getting things in order for his departure.

This was not good news. I hate being away from Steven for the day, let alone the three months he will be in Germany. When he went to Alexandria, Virginia earlier this month, he was five hours away and the three days he was gone were awful. You can imagine my excitement when I found out that he'd be gone for three whole months...and overseas to boot. The total miles between North Carolina and Stuttgart are approximately 4,505. That's a whole lotta miles.

We had a lot to do to get ready in short amount of time.

Both the Audi and the Camaro were ready for their yearly inspections so we decided to get that done and over with before Steven left. Both cars passed, with the exception of the tint on the Audi. It was dark. Way too dark. So, we spent the afternoon stripping it off and cleaning the windows. It was messy and smelly, but we spent some good family time together and, as an added bonus, we can actually see out of the windows while driving at night. (Always a good thing.)

That back window was tough, but Steven was up to the challenge.

The Audi looks like it's about ready to take off, doesn't it? The only way we could get the adhesive off of the windows once the tint was pulled off was to use brake cleaner. That's some pretty nasty stuff. We kept all the doors open so we could breathe.

Scott was our official key guy. He'd turn the key so we could move the windows up and down, then he'd fix the cd when it would stop and was in charge of volume control. He was excellent and made the process a lot easier.

Maya's part in the project was to be the photographer. What you can't see here is how badly the brake cleaner smelled or how much it dried out our fingers. It did work, though. No more tint!

We spent the weekend running around, filling the house with groceries, buying Steven the things he needed for his trip and tying up loose ends. On Sunday, the night before he left, while Steven packed, Maya busied herself with pulling her first molar.

Her tooth had been hurting her for a while, and then a couple of days ago, she asked me to see if it was loose. Silly girl...the tooth was hanging by a thread. 

She's losing her teeth a little out of order, but that's our Maya. She marches to the beat of her own drum. She declared herself too old to believe in the tooth fairy and asked me to just keep the tooth in a safe place. Okay...she is almost 12, but it was sad all the same. It surprised me a little, smart as she is, that she didn't put it under her pillow just to score a buck. I think her dad's leaving has her off kilter.

At 11:30, with all our other chores done, Steven finally sat down so I could cut his hair. It's never too late for a hug, though. I love Scotty's bunny ears.

This morning, Steven put the final touches on his packing and made sure everything he needed was in order.

When everything was ready to go, we all went and waited with Steven for his cab. Maya hugged on her Daddy. 

Scotty did, too.

Then Mylee needed another hug. This is very sad for us, Steven's having to leave. 

I don't have any doubts that I can run the house, teach school, get the kids to their activities...I do that on an everyday basis. I'm not worried about taking care of the yard or paying bills, and I know what to do if the car breaks down. I am capable, as are the kids. That's not the issue for me. What's difficult for me, and for the rest of our family is that we Wings are a quartet. It's how we work. We aren't really solo performers and we don't like being separated. We can do this, but it is way out of our comfort zone. 

Steven is good at his job. His bosses need him in Germany to fill a very specific job and I know he will provide his company with what they need and that he will do his job well. I'm hoping that he will have a chance to to do some exploring...to see some of Europe. He's armed with a camera, so hopefully we'll have some pictures in the near future. If he can, I hope he will fill his spare time with some sight seeing and a bit of travel to places he's never seen. 

My natural inclination to be cheerful and to find the bright side of the situation is, honestly, struggling right now...but I'm working on it. The kids and I have a busy three months planned. We are working on our projects for the Geography Fair, and Maya begins an eight week long online science program with the Smithsonian Institute and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology next week. We have swim team practice four times a week, bowling league and our swim fundraiser coming up this Friday. We have two months of school to finish up, testing for the state in mid-April, and the outdoor pool opens on Memorial Day. I have a calendar on our fridge and it's already filled with trips to museums, the zoo and the beach.

We are hoping that Steven's travels are safe and that this time goes quickly for all four of us. Until then, we have cell phones, email, web cams and blogs. The kids and I will be productive and I will find my Mary Sunshine...she's hiding, but I'll search her out.

92 days until Steven's homecoming and counting!