Moving right along, while work ends early, my day does not. Jayden receives an hour of physical therapy, followed by an hour of occupational therapy, then speech pathology. His sessions end at 1830, after which I drive about 30 minutes to get home, make dinner and ready myself and Jayden for the next day. The long hours don't bother me, because I know they are a means to an end. The more these professionals work with him, the better his chances of gaining independence.
His sessions tonight were quite productive. His physical therapist got him to sit up on his own, for about 3 seconds. It doesn't sound like much, but therapy is much like working out, any progress is better than no progress. He has gone from not being able to support himself at all to being able to for a few seconds. I relish every single improvement he makes and never take it for granted.
I did things slightly different this week. Instead of going home, I stopped at Kenya's, a sister in arms in the military mom institution. She has been one of my best friends since we were stationed in Germany, circa 2002. She had my Godson, Jawuan about 8 months before I had Jayden. Our kids have essentially grown up together, despite geographic seperations over the years. Now we are both at the same duty station again, able to watch each other's kids for a night out, and to air out our feelings about work, men, clothes, etc.
Being at her place, watching our kids play, made me think about how much easier it is to be a single parent when you have an outstanding support group. No one in this support group can be the child's other parent, but they sure can assist you with things such as cooking, cleaning, and of course, baby sitting.
Back in Germany, we were blessed with no shortage of Army wives who were happy to watch our kids on a weekend, or during a field exercise, along with the many friends we had within our units. When I first arrived to Fort Bragg, Kenya was deployed and Jawuan was staying with another friend of hers. As often as possible, I'd pick Jawuan up so she could spend quality time with her own kids, and so Jayden and Jawuan could play together. Shortly after Kenya's return home, our friend Lora joined us. In about two weeks she too will join the ranks of military mom. I can't say enough how happy I am that we are all in one place again, save for Veronica, who's wasting time in Washington (sorry guey lol) and Erika, stationed in Georgia. They too are Army Moms.
I don't think I realized what a hard time I was having balancing work, parenting and socializing until these ladies ended up here. I rarely ask them to watch Jayden, though I'll admit they definately watch him more than I watch Jawuan (I don't babysit lol) but just knowing I can call on them provides immeasurable comfort. And despite my non babysitting rule, they know they can call on me too, even if they only do so as a last resort. I am always willing, despite my arguments and dramatics any time I'm asked lol.
Only a Military Mom can relate to the struggles being in the military can present to parenting. On a more broad spectrum, we may be able to relate to a Working Mom, but these moms aren't typically in a position where they have to be prepared to leave their child's life in someone else's hands while they answer the call of duty. I'm not undermining these women, as it takes incredible strength to be a mother, no matter what setting you're in. I'm sure they have struggles too, that I'd never understand.
Despite some of the turmoil that's simply par for the course in the Army, I'm grateful to be a parent in this organization. The friendships formed in the military are as close to family as one can get without sharing D.N.A. I'm thankful for my Army family and I wouldn't trade them for anything! Thank you, Family :)
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