Well, this is going to be about moving for sure

I cannot believe that I have made it through these last few days.

Also, so that no one is wondering, the majority of my family do not have my blog address. Especially my husbands family. I do it that way so that I have a place to go with my irritations. And not have to worry about the whole darn family knowing of my personal issues. And as any of you know, I tend to be easily irritated, especially so in times of stress. So, as I reflect on last week, my feelings may change, but right now they are fresh in my head. And I have this HUGE need to share them with my blogging friends....

They arrived without problem on Thursday. They encountered problems navigating around the city though. The navigator was reading the words wrong, and really threw off the driver in trying to locate their hotel. I had told all of them that I had talked to that we would be moving when they came. That we probably wouldn't be able to do much else but finish up our moving. So, when the five of them finally showed up, Matt got his brother and his dad to help him move out all of the big stuff. Matt's sisters and mom started helping doing stuff in the house. Now, I am so far from being organized. I have tried, and I admit, I find it pointless to try and be ultra organized in a home that I will be in for less than a year. I don't have the motivation, and that is what my house was in San Antonio. I am going to try and get past that in our next home, as we might be there for maybe a year and three months. Anyway, it was pretty much a huge disaster when they got there. And Matt's mom and one of his sisters were a huge help. The other one was not. She (who I must point out is possibly less organized than I am with only having one child that is at least 10 years old and can help in the house whereas I have two very small children that are more prone to destroy than to create tidyness) got "too confused" trying to help, and she went and sat in the car for two hours. Later, as Matt's other sister was trying to suggest ways that she might be able to take one or both of the kids, the lazy sister was approached and asked if she would stay and help for a little bit so that they could have room to take one of the kids. Her response was that she was "tired and wanted to go back to the hotel and go to sleep". Apparently sitting in a car for two hours can be tiring and prone to making one a little rude and irritable. So, you can imagine my feelings in the lazy sisters direction.

The next day we had to be up at the buttcrack of dawn as graduation started at 0800 hours and Matt had to be there at 0730. I had never been there, so we all had to be ready by 0720. For some this might be easy. I usually wake up around 0800, so this was a tad difficult for us to achieve. Matt's family was there on time, and followed us to where graduation would be held. My children were fairly well behaved, but as the graduation went on and on, they got worse and worse. Lucy would ask me almost every time there was a lot of clapping if we were done yet. And once, it was loud enough for everyone to hear. Finally it was done, and now Matt is graduated and we are off to the next phase of his schooling thank goodness.

The rest of the day was crazy. We were scurrying around trying to finish packing up the trailer, and getting rid of the immense amount of trash. Matt's dad came down with the beginnings of a migraine, so he had to lay down. Which worked out well, because he watched a movie with the kids so that we could get things done. Overall, his family was helpful. Especially his dad and his brother as they were the muscles that got our big stuff out and packed. Matt's mom and one sister were great at helping sweep out rooms, getting stuff into boxes, and asking a lot of questions about what I wanted done with things. I'm sure they didn't expect to be helping us so much. Kind of feel bad about that. The one things that was really irksome was the lazy sister. At one point during the day she came up to me and kind of put her arm on my shoulders and said something along the lines of "aren't you glad we are here to help you cause you are so unorganized". I don't remember her exact wording. I thought wow, yeah, you sure helped those two hours you sat in the car and the rest of the time when you wandered around my house doing pretty much nothing.

They took some family pictures, as they all wouldn't be together for a long time, and then they left for the airport. I must admit, I was glad to see them go. And the reason is kind of sad, but I'm going to say it anyway. I was just so tired of hearing them say how proud they were of Matt and oh Matt you're so great.......Yes, he has accomplished something that none of them ever will. He has more motivation than a lot of people do in this world. (more than I do that's for sure). I just kept thinking to myself, He didn't get there all by himself!!!! I kind of feel selfish for even thinking this. But I really do think about it. Who did this man's laundry? Grocery shopped and got him the food he asked for? Cooked his meals? Did her best to allow him to have the time he needed to study?? Talked to his family when he didn't make the time? I took care of more things this year than I ever have before. Things that he should have done, but that I did. Put up with a cranky husband because he was stressed out over the studying and tests??Went to church functions and to friends houses for dinners and hanging to by myself with my kids because he needed to study??? Sure wasn't his family. His parents did literally nothing to help him during high school and years beyond. From what I understand (and from what I have observed since we've been married) his parents are usually pretty self absorbed in their own lives, and don't do a whole lot for their kids. They try and make up for it in nice gifts at Christmas and birthdays. I guess I want a little recognition of the year of Hell that I have been through. I think we as the families of these soldiers got one round of applause at the graduation. I'll eventually let this go I'm sure. But right now it is very fresh in my head. And I'm really irritated with his family. Perhaps they are irritated with me. And I don't really care. The good part is that the reality of them coming to see us in North Carolina are slim to none. Possibly the non lazy sister will come. I know my parents will come at least once as my dad served his mission in North Carolina, and he has never been back.

That paragraph seems a bit disjointed, but it all centers around my irritation of his family and lack of recognition for what I've done. And guys, please don't feel the need to fulfill this wish of recognition. Its not you that I want it from. I want it from my husband, from his family. I should get it from my husband, at least in private. But who knows if I'll ever get it from his family. They still haven't realized how difficult it is for me to function in their family. They just assume being married multiple times (and I'm talking up to 5 times) is normal, and having babies before getting married and also having two or three different families with different women and men in one lifetime are completely normal. It isn't normal for me and it's going to take me a lot longer than the six and a half years we've been married to figure things out. My feelings for his family seem to subside the longer we are not around them, but as soon as we have contact, they come right up to the surface again. Need to work on either letting go of these feelings or working through them so that I can come away from being around them and not feel irritated.

The next part of my moving saga is that all weekend we stayed a friends house. They saved us on having to put out money for a hotel, and the kids had a great time playing. They made us some really yummy tacos for dinner last night, Tacos al pastor (I think that's how you spell it, its marinated pork tacos with pineapple, cilantro and onion and this tomatillo/avacado type salsa stuff on corn tortillas. yum) and got to hang out with them a bit. We left this morning, and right now, everyone else is asleep in their beds, and I finally get some quiet time on the computer!!! Matt wants me to look up the allergies in both San Antonio and Fayetteville to see if we'll have any issues with allergies in our new place and to see what it was that made us so miserable in San Antonio. Haven't done it yet...

I also went to see Enchanted Saturday night with my friend that let us stay at her house, and anther friend and that friends mom. I really liked it. Amy Adams character is a bit irritating at times. I loved most of the music, and I am currently coveting Princess Giselles hair. I love the color, and I want mine to look that good long. Matt also went to see a movie with our friend, but it was a guy movie I am Legend or something like that. I'm glad Matt has friends that will go and see movies like that with him. I sure won't.

Don't know if I'll post much this week. We have lots more driving to do tomorrow, but we're not in any kind of rush to get there. We'll have to stay in a hotel no matter where we are and he doesn't have to report until 1 Jan. Lots and lots of time.

You know, just getting out my feelings about Matt's family and graduation have already helped. I really don't know what I would do without this blog. My hand always gets tired when I have a lot to write, but I can type for days!!!! LOVE typing.....