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Today is Tatiana’s birthday. She’s three, an occasion that we’ve decided to celebrate by performing unique gymnastic acts that scare the snot out of her mother.
She handled her cake much better than she did last year. She blew out the candle okay, although the first few times she tried she really did little more than spit on it. Last year she decided the best way to put out the candle was with her fingers. That didn’t really hurt her, but she freaked out when all of us yelled at the same time.
I’ve thought several times about getting a job, even though I am going to school full time. But, since I am getting my retirement pay and a housing stipend (in addition to whatever Missa earns working), I have decided to take advantage of the time I do have. I am gone for a large portion of the day Monday through Thursday (I only have one class on Friday), but it still leaves me enough time to spend with her. I don’t have to worry about any military exercises, TDYs, or, thank goodness, deployments. I also don’t have to worry about being called in to work to do something my my civilian “boss” who is getting paid three or four times what I am getting paid, to do something he should know how to do (he didn’t--after reaching the point at which you can retire, stuff like that will make you).
So I get to take advantage of it. Unlike the four or five months before, this last month or so I have not been the first person she sees when she wakes up (which entails her popping out of bed and sneaking in the hallway to see if you can see her), but I do get to come home to her excitedly jump around that I’m here. I’m also the A number 1 drink-getter, an honor that loses its luster after the five-thousandth time she walks by her sister and mother to hold a cup out to me and say “woookwat” (chocolate). I’m also in the enviable position of being her gymnastic equipment every time I go by her. She holds her hands out to me, then climbs with her feet up me, until she is standing on my shoulders. She then drops down and throws her head back, with her legs wrapped around my neck, so that she is hanging upside down in front of me. Then she lets her feet go, so that I have to catch her by the legs before she drops to the floor. The routine is completed when I arc her over my head and catch her by the armpits, so that we are essentially back to back. She loves this. My wife, as I pointed out before, practically drops a load.
I have three years of GI Bill to use. I may need to, at some point, get a job, depending on circumstances, but until I’m happy with this existence, with watching my little Tater with a frosting buzz doing spin after spin after spin (face plant) after spin.
She handled her cake much better than she did last year. She blew out the candle okay, although the first few times she tried she really did little more than spit on it. Last year she decided the best way to put out the candle was with her fingers. That didn’t really hurt her, but she freaked out when all of us yelled at the same time.
I’ve thought several times about getting a job, even though I am going to school full time. But, since I am getting my retirement pay and a housing stipend (in addition to whatever Missa earns working), I have decided to take advantage of the time I do have. I am gone for a large portion of the day Monday through Thursday (I only have one class on Friday), but it still leaves me enough time to spend with her. I don’t have to worry about any military exercises, TDYs, or, thank goodness, deployments. I also don’t have to worry about being called in to work to do something my my civilian “boss” who is getting paid three or four times what I am getting paid, to do something he should know how to do (he didn’t--after reaching the point at which you can retire, stuff like that will make you).
So I get to take advantage of it. Unlike the four or five months before, this last month or so I have not been the first person she sees when she wakes up (which entails her popping out of bed and sneaking in the hallway to see if you can see her), but I do get to come home to her excitedly jump around that I’m here. I’m also the A number 1 drink-getter, an honor that loses its luster after the five-thousandth time she walks by her sister and mother to hold a cup out to me and say “woookwat” (chocolate). I’m also in the enviable position of being her gymnastic equipment every time I go by her. She holds her hands out to me, then climbs with her feet up me, until she is standing on my shoulders. She then drops down and throws her head back, with her legs wrapped around my neck, so that she is hanging upside down in front of me. Then she lets her feet go, so that I have to catch her by the legs before she drops to the floor. The routine is completed when I arc her over my head and catch her by the armpits, so that we are essentially back to back. She loves this. My wife, as I pointed out before, practically drops a load.
I have three years of GI Bill to use. I may need to, at some point, get a job, depending on circumstances, but until I’m happy with this existence, with watching my little Tater with a frosting buzz doing spin after spin after spin (face plant) after spin.
