Rejuvenation

Last month I wrote about R&R, why soldiers get it, what it means, etc. Austin corrected me and told me it doesn't stand for rest and relaxation like I had written, the second R is for rejuvenation.

Rejuvenation.

Webster says this means:
1 a : to make young or youthful again : give new vigor to b : to restore to an original or new state
2 a : to stimulate (a stream) to renewed erosive activity especially by uplift

I think relaxation fit better. I do not feel rejuvenated. I do not feel like I was restored to my original state.

I have said countless times that my mind made me forget how hard separation was, and I've wondered if it's some sort of coping mechanism. But that was when years stood in between the separations. When it's just been 2 weeks it's too fresh to forget, and it makes going back to it that much harder.

3 months is so short, I know that. 3 months is that summer vacation that flew by every year. 3 months is the last trimester of pregnancy that ends in the blink of an eye. 3 months is only half of what we've already done. I know it's nothing. And with Jodi's wedding, Zac Brown Band concert, Patty's visit, Thomas the Train in town, and my sweet little busy bear I know September will be over as fast as it started. October is sure to fill up like all the previous months have, and November will be a blur between getting ready to meet my niece, the holidays, and getting ready for daddy to come home. I know this. I KNOW this. And yet still 3 months seems like an eternity right now.

I don't feel rejuvenated. But I'm able. It's time to hang daddy's keys back on the key hook, put his clothes back in the drawer, and get ready for the blessing of 3 months of bonding time for me and my bear. I'm not ready, and I'm not happy about it, but I'm able. And the bonding starts right now at monkey bizness.


- manda