ok. to avoid writing a novel here (which you all know i'm more than capable of, unfortunately) here's the gist...BP oil spill. major mess, major oil. tar on the beaches. enter in a slew of dirt-moving (or in this case, sand) heavy construction companies, one of which is Eutaw Construction (who my husband works for). Ben gets sent down to Pensacola for a few days to get the project started;
(these are pics from Pensacola...definitely oil, definitely scrapers working around the clock)
a few days turns into a few weeks, he gets sent over to Panama City Beach, and voila...the Eakes family has now relocated to a beachfront condo unit on the 16th floor of a high rise. blech. we have NOT sold our house, are NOT (currently) planning on moving anywhere, but we simply do not know if we will be down here for 3 more weeks, 3 more months, or 3 more years. and you think you have scheduling issues??
on a personal note, I am fighting not to sink into a terrible deep dark place. warren and i arrived here exactly a week ago. it was a 7+ hour drive, with several pee-pee stops for said child on the side of the road, and one strip-down-naked-so-mama-can-wash-the-vomit-off of said child and clean up the car seat and car. guess wee man has inherited my car sickness gene (if there is such a thing). we got here a bit after 8pm, and unfortunately took beach front road all the way down...neon, neon, fat ladies in cut-offs and bikini tops, neon, tattoo parlor, neon, drunk teenagers, did i mention neon? oh my word. i was at my wits end, and seriously started hyperventilating as i pulled into the condo (not that the condo caused it - it's quite lovely). ben met up with us to help us unload the household i had crammed into my little Element, and i cannot remember being so frightened until he showed up. i know, i know-silly, but that's where i was. totally freaked out by my new "home". didn't help that ben got one load in, looked like he was going to fall asleep standing up, took a bath with warren so i could get more things in from the car, fell asleep in the bathtub with warren, then had a phone call asking him to come back to the office at 10pm and didn't come home until after midnight, only to leave at 4am the next morning again (yep. those are typical hours for mr. eakes). so. that was day one.
day two was a bit better-but got progressively worse after i couldn't find the post office and couldn't find the grocery store, got lost trying to find target, found target and then warren peed his pants halfway through the store (didn't bring a change of clothes, either...sigh). realized we have no internet in condo, very spotty cell reception, had to have door lock mechanism replaced by maintenance because the keys wouldn't work. and then i had a horrific breakdown that night, speaking on all my paranoid and anxiety-ridden delusions - and again, ben fell asleep in the middle of listening (hearing? like charlie brown's teacher perhaps?) to me. sigh. he'd been home about 30 minutes. back up and gone by 4:30am.
day three: went to the pool, enjoyed ourselves (well, warren did). but then he wouldn't take a nap. sigh. found the post office and the grocery store. saw ben for about an hour. back up and gone by 4:30am.
day four: went to the beach (no oil here as of yet), warren got to see and swim in the ocean. found walgreens, filled scripts. very dull, very quiet, but then went out to eat with ben and several of his co-workers and spouses (all similarly relocated), and enjoyed seeing ben for the first uninterrupted period of time longer than an hour (where he wasn't asleep, that is). and warren behaved at a restaurant??? God knew i just couldn't take anymore...first real bright spot.
day five: oh my word, oh my gracious, oh my... breakdown station. had to take a shower so that Warren would not notice how horrifically hard i was sobbing - but he still did, tugging on my fingertips saying "no worries, mommy. no worries. you'll be okay. okay? don't cry, mommy!" most times i could kill him as of late for the deliberate disobedience (somewhat typical for his age, and very typical of having had his little world turned upside down!)but my precious child is an unimaginable gift to me. oh yeah...think we went to the pool that morning - yes, we did!
and warren is apparently a little mac-daddy, too, as you can see - latched on to the "pitty guwuls" and didn't let go! so a ray of sunshine before the storm, at least! finalized address change and set up PO Box.
day six: target again. found a cute swimsuit. starting to worry about this shopping obsession...guess it gives me some sense of purpose. arranged lawncare for house at home. no nap for warren again. what is wrong with my child!!! but no major breakdowns either.
day seven: got up with Ben at 4:30 (actually, i'd been laying in bed awake since 3:30ish...just couldn't sleep, so finally just got up when the timer on the coffee pot went off). had some wonderful quiet time. warren woke at 6:30, we ate breakfast, showered, dressed, went to the gym to check it out (no verdict yet), went to the grocery store, came home and ate "circles" (pepperoni pizza in layman's terms) then went to the beach AND to the swimming pool. no breakdowns, no tremendous sadness. a step in the right direction i believe. and hey! i got "pole position" in the parking garage today...meaning my car literally backs up to the bridge to the elevators, so all i had to do was locate a luggage cart, load up once, and up we went! no switching of elevator systems (there are two towers...don't ask, it's complicated, but involves a lot of getting off and on). another small favor! and the wine is sold at grocery stores here...for cheap! lovin' that...
so i said i wasn't going to write a novel - novella might be a bit more accurate. oh well. all of this to say, my family is together. i am struggling with the transition, yes, but am confident that each day will continue to get better, and i will continue to work through the "negatives" so that i can focus on the positives (like pole positions and grocery store wine! not boone's farm, mind you; la vino type wines!!). good gracious - i have to do that at home too, so really, nothing new, right? a very wise friend shared with me that "transitions are hard no matter if they are positive or negative". how true. and it's not like i haven't been through many transitions before. this one is just perhaps the first one that i acknowledge is completely out of my control. and perhaps that is just where God wants me to be. welcome to the world of sand, sun (sweat!), diverse, transient populations, elevators, parking garages and luggage carts. warren is adapting beautifully ("we're back!" when we pull in to parking garage, "push the up button! push the 16! this is us!"...oh, and he knows how to use the plastic credit card looking key to open the door, too), and i'm sure i'll catch up soon enough in my old age. ha!
cannot thank you guys enough for the encouraging texts, emails and voicemails. sorry i have been unavailable, but trust me - you haven't wanted to talk with this Jana. i lean heavily on the knowledge that i have a loving community of support at home, and i look forward to coming home soon...for a visit, if nothing else.
good gracious! i'm overwhelmed just reading this...chase even read it and said "wow. that's rough." (and you know that's saying something from that boy!) i'm praying the transition gets easier and easier until one day you will want to go back to pbc for vacation! :) ok, maybe not!! but, when you make it back here, we'll have a big shogun party complete with beverages from la vino!! (isn't it supposed to be el vino and la vina...just sayin'!) tell warren wes says hey, and hang in there!!
ReplyDelete