Nougat

What exactly is nougat anyway? Our office had a whole big thing about nougat this morning, complete with talking over cubicle walls and multiple mass e-mails debating the topic. Of course by the time this had been going on for 10 or 15 minutes there were eight people craving Snickers bars. The natural end to this kind of thing was the inevitable run to Duane Reade for a bag of Snickers and Milky Ways and subsequent Passing Of The Nougat. I love quiet days in the office.

The afternoon was even better! We haven't seen Shirley since she left on maternity leave at the end of July, but she came in today with her two-month-old Davey. About an hour later (and by pure coincidence) Sal's wife shows up with their five-month-old Parker Izabelle. There have been only three baby office visits in the history of our company. Two in one afternoon was fantastic!

Davey (at about 1 week old)

Parker Izabelle

Anyway, bigger things are happening than just babies and nougat. In fact, I've been pretty busy since I last posted.

I drove down to Annapolis with Greg's parents last weekend (and found out they read my blog! Hi Teresa and Hap!) to help move him out of his apartment. The four of us and his brother Paul packed up just about everything Greg owns, then headed out for a delicious dinner at a sushi restaurant in downtown Annapolis, followed by a round of drinks with the S. clan, then another with the Navy clan.

The next morning we loaded everything into a 16' moving truck. Total cargo weight: 1,300 lbs! (Not that I'm one to talk, but the boy owns a lot of stuff.) After lunch, we headed to Ikea to buy a sofa. We found one that we all liked alot- especially since it has a replaceable, machine washable slip cover. (Yeah- our new couch is going to be in a bachelor pad for the first six months of its life... it's going to need to be washed!!) Greg and Hap managed to fit the couch into the truck (which was exactly wide enough!), which thankfully saved us from having to repack the whole thing.

Teresa and Greg were staying one last night in Annapolis before heading down to Charleston, but Hap and I had to get on the road. We said our goodbyes in the parking lot, which was just as well: it kept me from getting too sappy. It wasn't hard, though- we would see each other in a few weeks. Our plan leaving Annapolis was that we would see each other at Thanksgiving and Christmas, and work out two additional visits: one in the spring and one in the fall. It worked out that we would go one month, one month, six weeks, and six weeks between visits. It was all planned.

Unfortunately, every time you think something is all set, the Navy steps in. Of course. Greg found out on Tuesday that he has class on the Friday after Thanksgiving, which makes it impossible for him to come north for the holiday. :-(

Since we really can't change Greg's schedule, we've been working on changing mine. We thought about me flying down to Charleston for Thanksgiving, but apparently the reason they don't have Friday off is that they will be in an important testing period, so having me around as a distraction is probably not the best thing. Not to mention that flights are outrageously expensive that weekend. So we're thinking that we'll do Thanksgiving like we do my birthday, our anniversary and Valentine's day: a week early! (We've been dating for over two years and have yet to celebrate any of those days on the correct date. Ah well- we're getting married young- we'll have 50 or 60 years together to fit those in!)

Unfortunately, I only have three vacation days left, and it's unclear if the office will be closed between Christmas and New Years. I've put myself down for vacation days on the Thursday and Friday of that week, and I'm saving one for some time in November to see Greg. (We think he might have a long weekend for Veteran's Day, so I'll take my last vacation day then.)

Between worrying about my lack of vacation time and the difficulty of getting to Charleston, I've been all stressed and upset for the past two days. Annapolis was easy: four hours on Amtrak and I'm there. Only $84 each way. Charleston, on the other hand, requires an airplane and a lot more money for a short amount of time spent together.

So it looks like our schedule for both the fall and the spring is going to be six weeks apart, one long weekend together, and six weeks apart. Yuck, yuck, yuck. We'll have about one week together over Christmas, so hopefully I won't have to work those other two days.

I know that we're going to have much longer periods of time apart, and that this really isn't bad, but we've never lived less than four hours apart. At least we'll be able to spend lots of time together when we're preparing for him to go out on deployment.

Something about this makes me think about when I used to babysit for toddlers. When the parents left, the kid would cry. No question. They'd be all upset for a little while, then they'd settle down and be just fine. What was much more difficult for them was when the parents left me with the kid then went upstairs to change, reappeared for a few minutes, left to go to the car, came back to get something they forgot, and then left again. As soon as the kid had settled down, the parents would return. Each time they left again, the kid would get even more upset, and stay upset longer. (Honestly- do parents realize they do this to babysitters?)

I feel kind of like the little kid. It's not that I fall apart when we leave each other, I just feel like something's missing, and it takes me a few days after seeing him to pull myself back together and readjust to being alone. Sometimes it almost feels like teasing to have such a short period of time together, just to go back to missing him almost immediately. It's like being hungry and being offered one M&M- you want it so badly, and you happily eat it up. It's great while it lasts, but it's gone before you know it and you're somehow hungrier than you were before. What gets you through is remembering the flavor and looking forward to the next meal.

Now, all these metaphors aren't meant to imply that I don't want to spend those long weekends with Greg- I want them more than anything. I'm just happy that he's going to be around that week in December. We'll get to spend some real time together, and I'll feel much better.

They say that time flies faster and faster as a wedding draws closer, and I wonder if that will be true for us. It's so weird to know that we will have just three visits together before we're moving him out of his apartment in Charleston and into our first home together. We'll be married in just over six months, and I'm sure it will feel like time has flown. In the mean time, the next several months are going to be like pieces of nougat- I know I'll enjoy them, I know they'll be sweet and not last very long at all, but I have no idea what they'll be made of.