Tonga

Boo hiss on Tonga. I'm just saying. Tonight is probably not the best time to write this post because I'm missing my husband pretty bad. I think there have only been 3 times in our marriage that we've been apart about a week but it's never been longer than that. How do military families do it? It is no fun whatsoever.

My saving grace has been my mother in law, Paula. She was nice enough to come out and help me while Trav was gone, and she has gone above and beyond the call of duty. I really lucked out in the mother in law department. She is nothing like the sterotype. She is so laid back and easy going. She even watched the Bachelor finale with me Monday night. And she's teaching me how to do crochet edges on burp cloths. I haven't crocheted in over ten years and it's been reallly fun relearning. She loves to read so I enjoy talking about books with her. Collin loves her too... of course. He has been referring to her as "momma" and for good reason. She has been getting up with him every morning so I can catch extra z's and in that sense I am getting a vacation! I haven't even felt sleep deprived this past week. It's been marvelous.

All of us had doctors appointments this week, just so I could either go by myself, or only have one munchkin with me. I've taken Collin to the Family Room and the park and been able to leave the babers. And I went grocery shopping with just Collin. What will I do when I have to face the reality of taking two kids out?

So a little background on Travis's trip.... He is doing volunteer dental work in a clinic that the church owns in Tonga. At UB, they have required the students to do an externship between their 3rd and 4th years, and these volunteer trips have taken care of that requirement. Even so, I was not super excited about him leaving for 11 days just a month after having a baby. After a lot of discussion over a long period of time... it was decided he would go. And during that decision, I remember saying, "You're lucky it takes care of the externship requirement, otherwise I would not be ok with you leaving." Well, the day before the plane tickets had to be purchased, the school had a meeting and told them that the externship requirement was being dropped. Poor Trav. I can only imagine the sinking feeling he got right then. I guess he turned to all the guys there and announced that none of them were allowed to tell their wives, so that it wouldn't get back to me. Of course, when he got home that day, he told me anyway. And somehow he still got to go. Props to me. :) Actually, I know all the other guys going think I'm crazy for even putting his participation into question. It is hard to imagine why I wouldn't be super excited about him leaving me in dreary Buffalo for tropical paradise over spring break with a newborn. Check me into a mental institution! But really, I am glad he's getting some good dental practice in and able to help those in Tonga. And props to him because he sacrificed a vacation in Fiji with the rest of the group and left a few days later than they did. As a side note, while the first part of the group was making their flight over there, the tsunami hit. As far as I know, they weren't affected by it, but I know some of the wives were pretty nervous for a while. And you all know me... I would have been hyperventalating.

Oh! I nearly forgot to write about his plane troubles. It could take a while to explain, so I'll try to make it short. Basically, his 1:40pm flight out of Buffalo got delayed.  He saw that online, early Saturday morning, so I dropped him off at 10:30am, hoping he could get on the earlier flight. He couldn't. So he waited until his plane finally took off at 4pm. He missed his connecting flight in NYC, but was able to make another one that was scheduled at hour after the one he should have been on. I guess they let him on even though the gate doors had already been shut. Well that got him to L.A. 1/2 hour before his flight left to Fiji. Definitely not enought time to get his bags, switch terminals and check in. Luckily, he had anticipated this in Buffalo, and called the travel agency to ask if there were any other flights to Fiji he could get on. (I guess normally, there is only a flight every other day) Well for whatever reason, there was another flight leaving the next day, which was Sunday night. So now he's in L.A. at 10pm on Saturday with 24 hours til his flight leaves. He remembered that a mission buddy was living in L.A., so I got on Facebook and sent him a message telling him about Trav's situation. Within just a couple of hours, he had seen the message and was able to go pick up Trav. Granted, it was 1:30am, which was 3:30am, Buffalo time. So he had a heinous day of traveling. But it would have been a lot worse if he would have had to sleep on the airport floor and then hang out all day with just a book to keep him busy. Instead, he had a nice couch to crash on and was able to go to church the next day with his friend, Jay. He said that as they were walking home from church, Jay asked him if I watched Dancing With the Stars because Chelsey Hightower (who is one of the professional dancers on the show) is in their ward. (Oh, btw Jay isn't married yet, so it's a singles ward). Trav knew who she was because we watched the season of So You Think You Can Dance when she was on. When he told me this I exclaimed, "Did you get a picture?!!!" I guess not. He failed to mention this while they were still in church, so he missed his chance to meet her. Darn. Apparently the quarterback of UCLA also goes to that ward. High rollers they are. Anyway, I was just so grateful for Jay and his willingness to help Trav out. I told Trav later that night that it was a good thing he served a mission. :)

Well that was the last time I talked to him. We aren't able to talk on the phone while he's in Tonga, but people with AT&T can send text messages so I've gotten a couple texts from him and one email. Hopefully I'll be able to do a post with all the pictures he took when he returns next week!