Recruiting Has Begun

Darrin left early Saturday morning for his first recruiting trip of the year.  He went to San Antonio for three nights, and got home today.  He sent Miles this picture, which Miles thought was "so cool". 

That makes me think of this post from last year.  He sure has grown a lot since then.

I've mentioned plenty of times on this blog that recruiting season is my least favorite part of Darrin's job.  Recruiting means longer trips, which almost always require him being gone on Saturdays & Sundays.  It's one thing for him to be busy during the week, but when you mess with our family time, especially on Sunday afternoons, Miles & I tend to get a little cranky.

One problem with Darrin being out of town is that we don't like to talk to each other on the phone.  There's really no other way to say it.  I don't like to talk on the phone at all....ever.  Darrin seems ok with it, so clearly it's just each other.  I like for him to call before he goes to sleep, so he does...most of the time.  Our conversations, no lie, usually go like this...

D: Hey.
J: Hey.
D: How's it going?
J: Good.
D: How's Miles?
J: He's good.
D: I'm so tired.
J: Yeah, I bet. I'm already in bed.
Silence........
J: I'll let you go.
D: Ok, love you.
J: Love you too.
D: Talk to you tomorrow.
J: Ok, bye.
D: Bye.

We really should just text b/c our conversations are pitiful.  It's like neither of us can muster any energy to talk.  Thankfully, we are both totally cool with it.

Another problem when he travels is that Miles does not feel safe in our house when Darrin's not here.  I've started to notice it in the last 6 months or so, and this time is was really bad.  He looks around a lot and asks about noises.  He even asked me what I would do if a bad guy came in our house.  I thought about blowing him off, but he asked again, so I explained that we would call the police.  Our Bible story that night happened to be about God's protection, so that was timely.  We pray too, and talk about how God takes care of us.  Sadly, I think it's just going to be something he deals with. 

Recruiting lasts from January to July.  It's worse at the beginning, and then slacks towards the end.  It is much better since Miles is older & can do things for himself.  When he was a baby, I was probably not fun for Darrin to deal with....and "probably" was just thrown in there to make myself feel better :)  This is kind of a rambling post but people ask me all the time how I deal with Darrin being gone so much.  It's not fun, but it really is normal to us now, after years of learning and adjusting.  At the end of the day, it's a small price to pay.  We both love his job and consider ourselves very fortunate to get to live this life.