Well, due to the closure of Walter Reed Army Medical Center in August, and the subsequent move to the new hospital which will combine the Army and the Navy medical centers into one massive medical center, all Army leave has been canceled for the entire summer. So Dh's plan to come out to Washington state, hang out with the kids and me for a short week, then help me fly them all back home has been abruptly nixed.

Yes, we have a non-refundable ticket for him. Just for him. I am too cheap to pay the $15 flight insurance fee, which has bitten me in the butt twice this last month!

Anyway, it sucks. It sucks mostly for him. Luckily he was able to go back to Washington for Grandpa's funeral in November. If he hadn't made that trip, he wouldn't have been out there to see family for about 2 years! Last time we stopped up to see his mother and father briefly. Their trailer house is about an hour's drive away from my parent's house. It was a quick visit. We were on a tight schedule in order to make it back for Grandpa's burial I believe. Anyway, we stopped by to see his sister as well, but she wasn't home and didn't answer her cell phone. She does this kind of crap when she's off her meds (she's manic depressive). It's like she doesn't want Mac to see her off her meds. Hello- she's almost always off her meds! She's... well, mentally unstable. But Mac did get to see his mother, and that was nice for him. He saw about as much of his father as he needed to...

But, he's disappointed by the summer leave fiasco, and so am I. I am getting too old to keep making this trip all by myself, year in year out!

I have a cousin who I saw at Grandpa's funeral. I haven't seen her for years. She has 3 small children. Her parents, my aunt and uncle, live in Boston. Every year, my cousin takes her 3 kids to go and visit her parents for a few weeks (she lives in Denver). We were talking about our summer-time travel as the main way we both keep our kids connected to their grandparents.

I said- "That's like what I do... What does your husband do while you are away?"
She looks at me with a shocked expression- "I wouldn't travel without my husband! My kids are way too young for that!"
Me... "Oh.... Well, sometimes Mac comes to visit us while we are at mom's house..."

I don't know... Her husband can take 3 weeks off a year in a row!

But... that's not medicine. That's not our life. And that's OK I guess. I've learned to push through and adapt. I'm not happy about it. I'd love to have traditional family vacations. But ever since we started medical school, visits home have always meant I travel with the kids alone, and Dh may or may not join us at some point in the trip. The kids and I manage. It's just a slap in the face when I'm confronted with the obvious truth that MOST families travel together.

And anyway, I do plan family vacations where Dh must be with us or the whole thing is canceled. That's why we are going to Disney in May! I get to have Dh with me and the kids the whole time! Bliss...