Here are some fun facts about Alaska:- State Flower: Forget-me-not
- State Fish: King Salmon
- State Bird: Ptarmigan
- State Tree: Sitka Spruce
- State Mineral: Gold
- State Gem: Jade
- State Sport: Dog Mushing
- State Insect: Dragonfly
- State Fossil: Woolly Mammoth
- State Mammal: Moose
Here are some not so fun facts about Alaska:
- Over 4,000 miles from Tennessee
- Mark's current location
Mark left for a fire assignment in Alaska on Friday. It's definitely not the most convenient time for him to be gone (again), but the show must go on. After I put Coop to bed Friday night, I couldn't help but think about how much has changed since the last time Mark went to Alaska...........
It was over 7yrs ago and Mark was assigned to a 3 month detail in Fort Greely (about 100 miles southeast of Fairbanks). He and I were shacking up, living in sin had just moved in together, Targhee was just a pup and we weren't even engaged yet. I bawled like a baby when I dropped him off at the airport and it was the first time we had ever been apart for a long period of time. I caved and let Targhee sleep on the bed with me the first night Mark was gone and the rest is history. We now have 2 labs on the bed with us and occasionally, a snugly 15month old.
We weren't technically supposed to have dogs at our condo so we had to be sneaky about Targhee's existence. I enrolled Targhee in obedient school and he went to doggy daycare a couple of days a week while I was at work. The other days I dropped him off at Grandma Linda's on my way to work. I joked that I was a single parent and Mark left me to raise our puppy all by my lonesome. During the 3 month period, I visited Mark for about a week and we were able to explore a little bit of Alaska together. Little did I know that Mark was pondering the idea of proposing to me during that visit. He ended up deciding that he'd wait until he returned home.
This time around is a little different. Targhee now has a sister (both dogs could use a little refresher course in obedience training) and I didn't cry as hard when Mark left. In my defense, I'm kind of used to him leaving on fire assignments and it was 4:30am. Okay, I'll admit it, I didn't cry at all because we said our good byes the night before and I was sound asleep when he left (sleep is a little more precious now). This time around, we're kind of homeless and the dogs are starting to run off on me at the cabin. We have since lived in 3 other states together, have moved 4 times, we're married and have a SON. Other than that, not much has changed.
Keep Mark in your thoughts for a safe and speedy return. As far as the rest of the family goes, let's just hope we survive this house fiasco, the dogs don't run away and that we'll be settled in our home before Mark returns.
5 comments:
I'm sorry that Mark is gone again. If you and Coop need to run away from the house fiasco for a while you can always come visit us in sunny New Mexico. I even have age appropriate baby toys.
Hang in there, you are doing an amazing job juggling everything. And don't forget to threaten the dogs with a trip to the kennel if they don't shape up.
My Alaska family has been experiencing a lot of smoke and ash. I'll let them know a top notch fire guy is on the way to save the day. And that it was a huge sacrifice for his family to let him go to Alaska.
You have so much going on right now - glad you're getting some sleep!
Alot has changed indeed! I am sure that it sucks big time having him gone for periods of time, especially now. It kinda puts things in perspective when I moan about Iffy being out til 9 pm when he was supposed to be off at 5.
also, Matt used to have that picture on his computer desktop at work.
Thanks for your support and encouraging words girls.
And Joanne~it's all relative. Whether its weeks or hours of being a single parent, we go through tough moments. It's a good thing our kids are so cute and we do have Dads to help out most of the time. Who knew this Mom thing would be so hard and rewarding.
Funny Matt had the same pic on his desk top. I just googled pics of AK forest fires. Obviously a popular image.
Hope you're doing better than I did. Jim was just there for 3 weeks and I cried every night on the phone. We were both surprised since he's been away on fires for over fifteen years and this was my first breakdown. We now believe it was all the meds I was on for the sinus infection, but it sure made it tough on him to hear me cry everynight and not know why or what to do about it. Oh well, life is better now that he's home and they took me off the nasty meds.
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