Jonathan's Home!

Last night, Kenzie & Andy dropped Jonathan off. When he saw me, his eyes beamed, and he grinned from ear to ear. He opened his arms wide and ran to me, and then he stopped, turned around, pointed to a cookie Kenzie was holding behind her back, and said "I want that."
Kenzie eventually convinced him to give me a hug. I picked him up. We told each other "I love you." Then he looked down, looked back at me, and said "I don't want you." (That's two-year-old for "Would you be so kind as to put me down, oh father whom I love?")
Well he's been bright and cheerful ever since he got back. I think he had a fun break with Kenzie. She's his favorite aunt. Even Calee gets snubbed when Kenzie's around...I think pretty much everybody gets snubbed when Kenzie's around.
Today, Clerie sent home some drawings she cut out of paper. She illustrated the story of the Gingerbread man. She always belittles her drawings, but I think they're genius! I can't wait to take a picture of the cow, and of the fox, and post them for you. The cow looks so nutty, and the fox looks so conniving. I love it. She also sent home a DVD where she took pictures of the figurines, and then told Jonathan the story. He watched it three times, and then he asked to watch "a different one." He likes Mommy movies.
We have several now. One is of stories and songs from before she left. Two are of her reading books that she's sent home with the movies; Green Eggs & Ham, and Hop on Pop. Another is of her singing songs, and yet another is the new Gingerbread Man DVD. She also sent me a video of her playing guitar songs. I miss hearing that guitar around her, and hearing Clerie sing her country songs. It's so nice to hear her sing again!
She was asked to sing a solo again at church. She enjoys that (don't tell anybody). She's kind of missed the chance to sing for others.
She's leaving for Qatar soon, which is great for her, bummer for me. I'm excited for her, but I'm gonna miss hearing from her all the time. I'm spoiled.
You know, separation is a funny thing. If you've got serious issues, it must be tough. But when Clerie left, we were getting along great. And as we've been talking about our relationship, we're both finding things we're excited to learn to do better when we're back together. When I've discovered something that could be better, I feel like shouting "A problem! Sweet!" (Before she left, I didn't want to admit if I had a problem! Maybe your relationship is better if you just shove it under the rug, huh?) It feels good to have such a good relationship, and it's exciting to think that we're both dedicated to making it better. And the thing about separation is this: whatever happens, life teaches you lessons you can't imagine learning any other way. So while this is happening, let's learn the lessons we can learn best from this, so that when it's through, we can be grateful for it. I wouldn't ask for separation for us or for anyone, but there are already lessons I've learned, or I hope I've learned (we'll see how well I apply them when Clerie comes home), and perhaps these were just the lessons I needed to learn in order to become the kind of husband and father I should be.