I definitely would not be a good military wife! My sister-in-law is married to an Army man, and several girls from my high school are now married to Marines, and I just know I wouldn't handle my husband being away for months on end very well. Even when they just go to a different base in the US for training, they are still away. And if they go to Iraq or anywhere else overseas the anticipation of seeing them again and having them safely home would be almost unbearable! I am so proud of all those I know who are in the military, but I am so thankful Matthew didn't choose that direction for his life.

Today was our first experience of the conflicts in our work schedules. It has been nice not having a job so I could always be home with Matt when he wasn't working. Now, I work in the mornings, come home around 1:30 and get to see him for a little over an hour before he goes to work. Then I leave a few hours later to go to my nannying position. He doesn't get home until right before midnight and I have to be in bed before then since my workday starts at 7:30, which means waking up at 6:15... not fun. So I wake up and leave before he wakes up and then only get to see him for an hour on the days we both work. Even on the days when only I work and he has the evening off, I still have to nanny until 6:00 and then we only have a few hours before I should start thinking about bed. Hopefully we'll never have such a crummy schedule again. I might have to seriously think about switching jobs around New Years. I would hate myself for leaving with such short notice when I agreed to work at both of my posiitons for a full school year, but with both they made it clear that if I had to leave for any reason that would be fine. I'll definitely keep that in mind. I miss my husband.

Tomorrow starts the official school year! I am excited to have a regular schedule in our classroom so the day will go faster. Hopefully everything will go smoothly and the kids will learn to obey me and Miss Carol. We have the oldest bunch in the school and generally that knowledge alone helps the kids grow up a little and try to be more responsible. Even for 5-year-olds, being the biggest means something! I remember in elementary school it was such a big deal to be a 3rd grader since you were the oldest in the first recess bunch, and then again when you were a 6th grader because you were the oldest in the school. I imagine it's a lot like that to these kids. It must be hard going into Kindergarten next year where they are suddenly the very lowest on the totem pole. All in good time. Before they know it they will be college graduates and not knowing what to do with their lives!

I am about to go get ready for bed. It's a quarter to 10 and I am getting ready to call it a night! I hate having to wake up at 6:15. I had another job lined up where my hours were 9-5. That sounds just about perfect! Well, in 9 months I can begin that kind of job. For now, I can survive and early morning. I did it all the way through high school. And back then I was usually so wired I only got about 4 hours of sleep. With chorale and cheer practice I wouldn't get home until after 9:00 pm and then would be homework. I just wasn't interested in sleep back then... and somehow I functioned perfectly fine without needing it. It's a shame my body reacts poorly to caffeine. I'll try to get my system used to coffee again. That sure helped before my body decided to hate coffee or pop or anything that helps you stay awake!

Not excited for my first early day. It will be long. But a on a happier note: my first day of nannying went well. Peter and I get along well enough. He's still a little shy with me but he's real easy to play with. We watched some TV today and went outside to search for bugs and snakes in the yard! haha. It occupied us for 3 hours, which is longer than I typically will stay with him on the normal school day. So it will be a good second job. Even though the hours are not preferable.

Cheers.

Rebecca Iveson