Taking Comfort from a Fortune Cookie

Last Saturday night, Grig and I went on a one last date before he went back to his job.

We went to a Chinese place.

I ordered a dinner platter of orange chicken. The waitress pointed out the lunch menu that had less chicken. I said I preferred the dinner menu, and she told me that she hoped I was hungry.

When they brought my food, I thought, "At least I'll have left-overs." There was A LOT of chicken.

Though we were having a good time, the impending separation was hanging over our heads. I was feeling pretty sad about it, even though I knew it was only going to be around four days. It still seemed like it was going to be a long time.

As we finished up our meal, we were given fortune cookies. I kind of hesitated, and then I said, "Well, let's find out our fortunes."

Grig opened his first. His said something like: You are an adventurer. You will be traveling down a different road.

"How appropriate," I said. Then I opened mine. It said: You are on the right pathway.

I found that hugely comforting. I don't believe that fortune cookies tell the future, but I do believe that the Lord can speak through all mediums, and I felt like that was His way of telling me that everything was going to be okay.

It has been. I miss my husband, but we've been busy, and that's made the separation easier.

I'm sure excited to see him on Friday though.

Working

Over the past week, I have re-entered the work force. I'm working on apartments during the break between semesters.

It has been a change. The physical nature of the work was exhausting at first, but I am getting better at it again.

Kevin has been having a hard time. He's been staying with my mom while I work, and he does really well all day, but the moment when I leave in the morning is difficult.

Last week, Grig's job didn't have enough work for their employees, so Grig came up and helped. Sunday night, he drove back to Utah. That was difficult. We miss him a lot. Last night, we skyped, and Kevin cackled with delight the whole time. He kept kissing his daddy's face on the screen as well.

I enjoy working though. I enjoy seeing improvement, and manual labor makes me feel like I've actually accomplished something. It also allows me time to think, especially when I am doing meticulous tasks by myself.

I've been working on these family-owned apartments since I was 11 (with a few short breaks here or there). That's a long time. However, I am grateful for the work-ethic it has given me. I have to go now, but I know that a lot of the good qualities I have came from working with my family.

I want to give my child(ren) the same experience. 

Imminent Separation

Starting next Monday, Dakota, Kevin, and I will be traveling to Idaho to work on apartments for a month. These are apartments that my grandparents own, and I have been working on them since I was eleven.

We'll return in September. Grig will, for the most part, be staying in Utah to continue working at his job.

The current plan is that he will stay here Monday-Thursday, and then come and spend the weekends with us. Even though it will only be a few days a week, it will be difficult to be separated from him for so long.

When I'm stressed about something, I have a tendency to try and avoid thinking about it by being busy or getting sucked into things. I have found myself doing that this week. I am not worried about leaving Grig. We trust each other completely and I'm sure he'll be just fine without me. We will miss him a lot though.

We always have a lot of fun.

My mother has kindly agreed to watch Kevin while I'm working. It will be difficult to be apart from him so much as well. I'm not worried about him either. My mother is an expert at child-raising.

I think the next month will go quickly, but I still am not looking forward to being apart from my family so much, though I am excited to work on apartments. I have a good time working with my family, and I haven't been able to spend as time with them as late.

This weekend we have another reunion, and I'm pretty excited about that. It's with my paternal side of the family. We usually have a fantastic time.

I don't know when the next video will be published. I won't have access to my video editing software, so we'll see.

I'm sure everything will work out, and it will be nice to be able to put money away to savings.

I'm sure Kevin will enjoy playing with his cousins too. There is a lot to look forward to.

Hopefully Grig doesn't get too lonely during the week. We plan on skyping every day, so it shouldn't be too bad.

Kevin's going to miss his daddy.