Sunday, November 4, 2007

light bulbs

This afternoon I smiled sweetly at my neighbor and asked him to change two burned out light bulbs. He and his wife both laughed. If I have to, of course, I'll change them myself, but when there's a guy in the building for a few days I don't mind humbling myself to ask for help.

Things change so much when the Sergeant is gone. When he was deployed for a year in 2005-2006 I did things I never knew I was capable of. I put a new shower head in the shower. I put air in my tires. I put antifreeze in the car. I used the grill. I fixed my computer (with the help of the guy on the help desk phone, of course). I bought a dvd burner and hooked it up to the tv and figured out how to use it.

It's not that I didn't think I could do these things, but these are all things the Sergeant would normally do. When he left I had to take care of everything. It was overwhelming at first, but it felt really good to know I could handle things. And the Sergeant worried a little less, I think, when I told him about the new feats I accomplished.

At the moment the Sergeant is in the field for training. And a few days ago two light bulbs burned out. As much as I don't trust stepladders, I could have done it myself...but I was thankful for a neighbor to help me out. Being "in charge" at home has taught me two things: I can do a lot more than I ever thought...but it's okay to ask for help.

This post was partly inspired by this post by Rose Daughter; I have the "I can do it myself" Army wife mentality...but time has taught me that sometimes I do need to ask for help!

6 comments:

  1. It is amazing what you can accomplish, simply because you have to....but it is nice to have help.

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  2. You did so well on your own!

    I'm bad at asking for help...except from my husband. He'd probably tell you I ask him for help TOO often :)

    But I'm sure, on a base, that everyone's happy to lend a hand. Which is nice, when family is so far away!

    Heidi

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  3. You're amazing - having endured a remote was not something I ever had to do. Five months was my longest. So hats off!

    Thanks for the comment today - I wasn't trying to incite a debate about military wives....just talking about my personal experience with it all those years ago. Anyway, thanks for commenting!

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  4. I have all the respect in the world for you. I just don't know how military wives do it. We owe as much to military wives (families) as we do to our soldiers. So thank you for your service. :)

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  5. ha ha. this reminds me of myself and my motto of "sure, I could carry that heavy thing, but if there's a man around, I'd rather ask him to do it!"

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  6. Once again, I wish us medical wives could join you military wives because our lives are so similar and you all seem to have a better network of support---especially if you live on base. There's no bases for medical families. Bummer! :-)
    I too have learned that if I wait around for dh to be home to do some of the things that need doing around here, that I will be waiting a long time! so most of the time, I just do it myself.
    Oh for my hubby to have a "normal" schedule. That would be heaven. Sigh.

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