Monday, July 4, 2011

Holidays and such......

Its these holidays that get me down. The 4th of July is Dan the man's favorite, but they are mostly the same. We never celebrate like everyone else. Its always on a different day or time. Birthdays, anniversaries and yes even Christmas happen when we get around to them. I kinda feel like a dork being done with the 4th of July before anyone even started, but that's how it goes I guess. I plan our whole life, even federal holidays around his schedule. It doesn't matter if the mail doesn't come or the trash doesn't get picked up. Dan the man will be at work.

Its been like this most of our marriage though. I am kinda used to it by now. I wonder when the kids will figure it out. My oldest thinks we are weird, but I don't think it bothers her. By the time Dan gets normal days off most of the kids will be older and probably think our family get togethers are lame. I am thankful that Dan gets to do something he loves though. Them's the breaks.

So I am sitting here in the 4th of July waiting for him to come home. This is what Christmas, Thanksgiving and every family birthday will be like. Until......whenever. I guess the dates really don't mean as much as coming together as a family. I hope our kids understand that. I hope the folks in our lives don't hold our strange schedule against us either. We do our best. I know its not the same when I show up to parties and stuff with the kids in tow and no Dan. Trust me its no fun for me either, but if I waited for Dan to be off we'd never go to anything. The kids would be stuck in the house all the time and that makes for a long day for me. Most of the time I am a single parent and its really hard. Some days its a breeze and some days its kinda sad. Today is kind of a mixture of both. I hope people realize how hard Dan and the other cops work. I hope today when they are calling to complain about stuff they notice that they have the day off and some folks don't. Maybe be a bit more patient and try to enjoy your holiday without all the drunkeness and crap. Just try.

1 comment:

Cheri-Beri said...

I feel your pain. I'm just so used to it, too. My kids are 13 and 15 and they're used to it, too, so celebrating on a different day doesn't bother them at all. We're not even doing the 4th this year because Tyler's working until 1:30 a.m. and the kids really don't care about fireworks. So we've sat around relaxing . . . . ahhhhhhhh. And if your family or friends hold your strange schedule against you, to heck with them!