Living in the trenches....Thread #5

[Navyguy]

Hey everyone,

I'm alive and kicking. The Admiral's aide thing is going well...I just have to make sure it doesn't go too well and end up being converted from a month-long temporary job into a long term gig. The days have been long (~12 hours), and I'm doing a lot of small, assinine tasks, but I do get to see some pretty cool things. On my first day I got to go to a meeting in the Pentagon at which nearly every 3 and 4 star Admiral in the Navy was in attendance. In the end though, I have no interest in doing this for a longer period of time, as it would definitely detract from my family time.

JS: Thanks for the great advice. It REALLY helped me get through the trip to Colorado successfully. I think that you were dead on in that she was testing me...if not that, she was certainly watching with an extremely close eye.

The trip went well (we are all back in Virginia!) and despite a few minor arguments, we did not have a big blow up. I really focused on letting W have her space and tried to be as understanding as I possibly could be of her discomfort with staying at my parents house for 2 weeks. We had a good time and even had a few pseudo-dates while we were there, which were a lot of fun. Now that we're back home with the stress of being around our families lifted and having made it through that 2 weeks, things have been going pretty well at home.

W is definitely moving back toward me emotionally. My biggest frustration at this point is the lack of physical contact...but I try to remember that for a W, emotion has to come first. At this point she is letting me initiate physical contact, but she does not initiate it or return it.

Looking back through my thread here, I am definitely still on the roller coaster....and I don't know if that will ever end. I think what is most important is learning to deal with the ups and downs without puking all over yourself.