Jon got a job working in the oil fields in September and I have been playing the single married mom since then. I gained so much respect for single parents in those five months. I have been through some really tough stuff in my life, but none of it could have prepared me for trying to raise a child with Jon 13 hours away. Thank goodness for my parents living so close. They were such a big help and really stepped in when I needed them.
After five months of being apart, spending Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, and my birthday away, we are finally back together. I would be lying if I said I loved it here. It is honestly the coldest place I have ever been. Some days it doesn't get above 0 degrees. Your hands get numb walking from the grocery store to the car. We are renting a little two bedroom apartment until our house in Idaho sells. It is a huge adjustment. I have taken for granted having a washer and dryer, garage, and backyard. We don't even have a disposal in the kitchen sink. I didn't even know that was a thing to not have one.
Even though life in the tundra is freezing cold, we are finally back together. There is an awesome rec center that has a little waterpark and a daycare. I get to work out while Oakley plays with other kids.
I have had so many tender mercies these last two weeks. Its funny how the smallest things can brighten my day. Oakley has been a beast to get to bed...really since Jon left in September. Her little world has been turned upside down and she is handling it fairly well, until bedtime comes. The first couple of nights she didn't go down till eleven. One particularly hard night I got a text from my cousin Andrew. It came right at the very moment that I needed it. Little things like this have been happening these last two weeks and I know that I am never truly alone. No matter how cold and lonely life is right now, things will get better. Spring will come, eventually, and we won't be cooped up forever. And while we are, we always have the rec center.
