Reflections – February 2010

February is notorious for being my least favorite month out of the year. It’s only 28 days long, but those 28 days drag on forever. It’s kind of like how it always gets really dark and cold just before dawn breaks. This February was no different. It wasn’t particularly horrible, but it was really hard to get through.

February began very snowy and very cold. It was painfully white and bleak,not exciting and inviting like the first snow storm of the season. Moanna wasn’t even interested in going outside to play. She and I suffered from cabin fever while Steve was snowed in in Norther Virgina.

Steve spent more days out of town in the month of February than he spent at home. He spent a full week in Miami and several other weekends away for work. I did not handle it gracefully at all. He plays a very active role in taking care of Moanna and helping care for the house. I am very blessed and spoiled, so when he wasn’t here to take over when I needed some time on the bench I lost it. I had to constantly remind myself that this was a transition period and that we were making the best decision for our family in the long run.

From afar, Steve did his best to help with Moanna over the phone. When I just couldn’t take it anymore he would talk to her and mediate our arguments over the phone. He also sang to her every night at bed time.

Steve was out of town for Valentine’s Day which was more than fine with me. I hate the holiday. He did have the audacity to send me a card in the mail. I think he forgot who he was dealing with for a minute. Despite my hate for the holiday, I did dress Moanna up in pink for church and celebrated the holiday with her.

Thankfully, my work load was fairly light in February (relatively speaking). We were really blessed that when Steve was out of town I was able to have a “normal” schedule. It made juggling Moanna and her needs easier than it could have been if I were slammed at work. I’m not sure what we’re going to do when things get really busy for me at work at the end of March and the month of April. It’s going to be a death defying feat to stay sane.

Because of our crazy schedules, we are home just long enough to tear the place apart. To help keep the house in working order we hired someone to clean the house every two weeks. It is money well spent. It forces us to pick up after ourselves so the housekeeper can come in and do her job. It’s nice knowing that we do not have to spend all of our time at home cleaning; we can now spend some of that down time relaxing.

As if the weather and Steve’s heavy travel schedule were not enough to make February epic, we found out that Steve has Celiac Disease. Essentially it is an allergy to gluten. It has been a life changing adjustment for Steve. He’s no longer able to eat some of his favorite foods unless it is modified to be gluten free. It has changed the way we shop for food, cook and where we can go out to eat. I will elaborate on this new development in a later post.

February and all of its misery reminded us to not take our time together as a family for granted. Steve and I have without question learned to appreciate each other more. We now have a better understanding of where the other person is coming from. We can appreciate the other one’s contributions to the family as well as their struggles in a way that we couldn’t before. Despite my hatred for February, I am grateful for the new perspective it has brought to our family.

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