The joys of running errands! I always let them pile up and then it takes us a few hours to get them all done. I tell  myself it’s because I’m environmentally conscious, which I am. But then again the honest truth is that I avoid errands like the plague. Brooks really spoiled me before he left, running errands for me and taking care of little details so that in reality I hadn’t done it in weeks. Sad, but true.

So today it’s was do or die. There were just things I couldn’t put off any more and so off we went after a morning of homeschooling. Five hours! Five very productive, yet long hours! Boy were we glad to be done with all that in and out of the car, dealing with traffic, and long lines!

We happened to get on post for our last two errands right at five o’clock. Every weekday, except Thursdays, at 5 o’clock Retreat is sounded followed by “To the Colors” on post as the flag is lowered. On Thursdays Retreat occurs at 3pm. I absolutely love hearing Retreat from inside our home, since we live on post now. Very rarely do we find ourselves outside during Retreat since we are usually home during that time.

Little Brooks loves scrambling out of the car so he can place his hand over his heart if we do find ourselves in traffic on post during Retreat. So today as we got out of our car I noticed that a female soldier exited her vehicle and her son followed out after her. He looked up at her and followed her every move so perfectly I can only imagine he does it often. Call me sappy but it brought tears to my eyes. Maybe it’s seeing the pride and love that child exhibited towards his mother that reminded me so clearly of the way my son looks at his father. Maybe it was the the view of so many, both those in uniform and those out, rendering honors to our flag. It was probably a combination of both, but I found myself so thankful for having run so many errands that we found ourselves on a busy road on post at just the right time.

After such a long, busy day we decided to take it easy at home. We stopped at the Commissary and picked up supplies to make homemade pizzas. Little Brooks loves helping me cook. He loves taste testing everything too, but that’s a whole other story. He was super excited about making this pizza with minimal interference from me and sang to himself the whole way through. We were both dancing and after a while he ended up with too many layers of toppings, which then had him in stitches.

 

While we waited for the pizza to bake we played a round of Squiggle Monsters. It’s a game he got from the Three King’s this year and which he loves. How could he not? It entails two of his favorite things: monster and drawing. The purpose of the game is to draw a  monster with certain parts included, and then we rate each other on creativity. I especially love this game because we both get to spend time together while vegging on the couch.

Because I was born with a congenital heart defect and get easily fatigued sometimes games such as Squiggle Monsters are a life saver for me. I love that we can have fun but that I can rest. I can’t afford to get sick while Brooks is gone. I can’t have him worried about me and more importantly I can’t be less than 100 percent when I’m a “single” parent. So, even though I’m horrible about drinking water and partake of too much coca-cola I definitely listen to my body when it’s overtired and take it easy as needed. Today, after all that running around, was one of those days.

Hence the pizza making, the monster drawing, and the current movie watching while Brooks’ plays mechanic on his scooter. In a bit we’ll both head to bed and we’ll read some bedtime stories and silently hope to hear from Big Brooks again tomorrow. Because that always makes things perfect… and brightens our day.