Thursday, January 6, 2011

New Year, Distraction

How sad that it's taken me six days into 2011 before I've finally gotten to blog. I blame it on my current state of distraction. After a blessedly wonderful holiday break, I am currently distracted by many things. I've spent over 50 hours driving since the Monday before Christmas, making two down-and-back trips to North Carolina. I have one more to make this weekend, though I'm hoping I'll have another driver to help this time. I've been distracted by the trips, and I'm distracted by the purpose of this upcoming trip - seeing our oldest son one last time before he deploys with his Marine unit. I'm distracted to the point that nothing else will remain in focus because all I can think about is that he will be gone, far away, for many months. It will be the first time in my life - in his life - that he will been somewhere that I cannot go and visit him if I so choose. He will not be tangible, and I am disliking it mightily.

And most recently I am distracted by my husband pointing out the huge effing storm that is going to make its presence know right along the 700 mile path we'll have to drive home on Tuesday. He wants to come home a day early, and I do not. I am a mother. I will drive 700 miles at 5 miles an hour if it means getting to spend one extra day with my child before he goes away to do his duty in a war on the other side of the world.

So I'm trying to distract myself from my distraction. I lure it away for short periods by knitting, by watching Stargate Universe on Netflix (I suppose I should be glad he's only going over the ocean and not to the other side of the universe, though for all intents and purposes, it really doesn't seem much different), and by pretending to be productive. I start a task, but then I get...distracted. I feel like my mind has taken a vacation and forgot to call the temp agency for a replacement.

I'm sure this will pass. Eventually I'll be back to my normal self (which isn't completely without distraction, to be honest) instead of feeling fuzzy and disoriented, the way you feel after taking a too-long afternoon nap, waking after it's gotten dark. But for now, I'm trying to ride this out and hope for the best.

How's 2011 going for you?

3 comments:

Lex said...

That must be so hard. Where is his unit deploying to? SG:U is a good show; I am upset that it got canceled.

Lisa B. said...

It is hard, Alexis. I know I'm not the first mom to go through this, so I feel like maybe I shouldn't be making such a big deal out of it, but I can't help how I'm feeling.

And yep. I'm sad it got canceled too. My younger son really likes the show, so I watched it occasionally with him, but I'm only now finally catching up with it from the very beginning. Love Netflix streaming! :)

Jaimie said...

I am completely and totally distracted also, for completely different reasons. I understand what you mean when you say you would do anything to spend that extra day with your son...I hope the time you get to spend with him is good...You are in my thoughts.