A Couple's Getaway

Jay and I got married eight years ago.  He was an E4 in the Army and I was in college. I had the second draft of my Master's Thesis due the following Tuesday.

Needless to say, we had no honeymoon.

But we made up for it while he was home on leave.

After taking Madelyn to school on a Friday morning, Jay and I headed north to Lawrence, Kansas. We met a friend of ours there. She had her two, very young, children with her. She agreed to take them out into the cold afternoon to meet us for lunch. Her life right now reminds me of what mine was a year ago when my husband was a recruiter. So my heart was aching for her. Having children under the age of five in the house is very stressful, let alone surviving at home alone with the kids while the husband is out fighting to make a living.  She showed no signs of weariness, and had tons of patience.  I was happy she let me hold the infant so she could eat her lunch. Plus, her oldest is a boy, so Jay really bonded with him.

It was a fantastic time visiting with her. When we left, Jay said, "Her and 'T' are reasons enough to move to Lawrence when we get out of the Army."

That spoke to my heart. I smiled because I was thinking the exact same thing.

After lunch we ventured over to Kansas City. We checked in to our hotel, the Westin at Crown Center, and wandered the shops.  Jay had received some Christmas money, so we checked out the golf stores down in Olathe and Overland Park.  After that, we hit the Power and Light district off of Main Street downtown Kansas City.

It was very cold. We tried to see a movie but they were sold out until the eleven o'clock shows. I am too old to stay up for that. Let alone stay up for the movie! We wandered down to the bars and spotted Lucky Strike Bowling. Neither of us had been to one before, so we walked up to the counter, anxious to experience the atmosphere.

"Shoe size?"

"Nine for me, please," I respond. "But, how do we pay for a lane?"

Dumbfounded look towards me from long-haired hippy guy.

"You mean you don't have a reservation?"

Jay and I look at each other, obviously not knowing where we were, recognizing a pattern.

"No."

"Oh. Dude. It's, like, two hours before my next lane opens up."

"Oh. Okay."

We walked around the lounge. I wanted to leave to find a bar. The Broncos were playing the next night and I wanted to scout out a place to watch the game.  Buffalo Wild Wings was my place of choice, but a sports bar would work.

We found a place, then went back to our hotel. We watched a basketball game in the bar in the lobby and had some appetizers. We were exhausted and went up to bed.

The next morning, I woke up and Jay was sitting on the foot of the bed holding a tray. He had ordered room service. It was amazing! It was delicious and awesome to be treated like a princess.

We spent Saturday at Union Station.  We checked out the Rail Experience museum and ventured through the Science City.  Lego was there hosting a Master Builder competition, too. It was neat to see all of the creations that the nerdy guys came up with.

We split for Oakpark and did some shopping for the girls. Jay was missing them and decided to spoil them. We found toys for each and headed back to the bar we had scoped out.

We got there an hour early, and got to witness the Saints loss to the 49ers.  After the fourth play in the Bronco game, Jay pulled me out and said we were going to try for a movie again.

It was pretty painful to watch that game.

And the movie was sold out, again. We just do not understand the concept of 'reservations', I guess.

We ended up in the hotel bar again, watching the game. I had a Tom Collins, so I didn't see much.

I do remember waking up to breakfast in bed again.

Sunday we headed home around nine in the morning. We stopped at the AMC theater in Olathe and saw the new Mission Impossible movie, and grabbed some lunch at Old Chicago. They had fried pickles there. They were awesome. Jay and I vowed that we would make those at home the following week.

View North out our hotel window

Jay posed at the Science City to show Hannah the dinosaur

Clock outside Union Station. I was amazed at no power lines or street lights in the shot.

Model train exhibit at the Rail Experience

Our room at the Westin. Wasn't impressive, but had a great view of KC

Sprint Center is silver blob of a building in center

Lego Building Competition.  This round theme was 'animal'

We didn't know while we were away that mom had gotten sick. She had my uncle come get the older two girls so she could recover. We felt awful about it. But, in the end, we couldn't have done anything about it, and the girls love staying with 'B' and 'B'. So, we are grateful that we didn't know and that it didn't ruin our weekend.

Everyone was well by the next Friday. My baby brother, Tru, was coming to visit.  Jay and I decided to fry up some pickles.

I had the batter whipped and was ready to dunk the pickled slices when my mom turned around and asked, "What is that?!?"

"Um. Batter? Its beer batter."

"No, why so much?"

"Dunno. I just went by recipe. Just one bottle of beer. I told you I needed lots of pickled when you asked what to get at store. You laughed and showed up with 12 ounce jar. Now you know why I needed 36 ounce jar."

Jay, mom and I all rushed for the fridge. We wanted more stuff to fry. We found another jar of pickles, and banana pepper rings. We all drooled over the peppers. We knew they would be awesome!

I began dunking the  pickled and laying them in the hot oil. Jay was the fry cook. And he did fabulous!  He said that his dad always told him he wouldn't amount to nothing more than a fry cook. Well, here is a picture!

It felt great to be working close to Jay. He was funny, and we laughed a lot. He had patience with me while I was spattering batter and hot grease all over him. I never told him how scared I was that he was near the oil in his new KU shirt. 

I had to leave to get Madelyn from school.  When I got back, they were finished.  They had even fried jalapeño stuffed olives. Those were yummy!

Later, Tru arrived, and he came bearing gifts.  Jay asked him to pick up a can of dip on his way. We were laughing when we saw this on the side of the can:

Jay is from Canada.

We have no idea what this implies.  Your thoughts are welcome in the comment section at the bottom. Post as anonymous if you would like!

Anyway, I drove him back to KC the next night. We stayed by the airport at an Embassy Suites. The heat was broken and the bathtub didn't drain. I didn't have time to complain at the front desk the next morning. We had to be up at five to get his gear packed and ready to head out.

It was dark and raining when I left the terminal at the airport.  Our kiss goodbye was something we were dreading, unlike two weeks ago when we were drastically looking for each other through the glass.  All I could see in his eyes were the moments he shared with the girls when he told them goodbye. It ripped at my heart.

I honestly don't remember turning from him and walking to my truck.

I was sad on the drive home. Then, I was angry with myself. I get to go home to our daughters, a warm bed, a refrigerator full of food, and a regular routine.  Jay is returning to a crap-hole, to put it lightly. And I am sure he hasn't even told me the worst of it.

So here is to the next seven months. May God keep our soldiers safe. May God bless our leaders with wisdom and knowledge. And, may God be with the children of deployed soldiers to understand why they are worth protecting.

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If you have any questions or comments you would like to share directly with me, please email thearmymommy@gmail.com