This has been the most insane four days since my husband left. I'm talking insanity! I checked my email Thursday night to find out that my grandfather was leaving Saturday to come visit me. He travels Space Available so I had no idea exactly how long it would take him to get here. Just my luck he ended up getting here Sunday morning.
Don't get me wrong, I'm really glad he came. I just would have liked a little more notice. I didn't realize until I had to start insanely cleaning the house just how much I had let things go. I had a friend tell me that is how it usually goes with deployments. People either get anal or let things go. Well put me in that last category, but I am going to do everything in my power to keep it from happening again. I just can't do that again.
I am really enjoying my visit with my grandfather. I will admit, I was incredibly nervous. The last time I had spent more than a day with him was almost 12 years ago and it ended very badly. He has admitted since then that he was a cranky old man and shouldn't have treated me the way he did. I saw him for my middle sister's wedding and then again for my younger sister's graduation, but that was only for a few hours at a time over a few days. He talks a lot and is going deaf so talks loudly. I don't mind the loud, but he is always joking loudly with people and comes off sounding too serious. He does make friends easily though.
He spent Sunday night at the Hickam AFB and then came to where I live on Monday. We visited a bit and then he took us to the commissary. Considering I hadn't been to the grocery store in a month, it was a treat. My son was having a blast. I was so excited because I saw they had Peeps out for Easter. Well when I went to the other side of the store I found some left over from Valentine's Day. Those are my husband's favorite so I bought about 8 packs to mail to him. We put all of the groceries up on the belt and it was time to pay. Well I was doing something with my son or getting my card out to pay or something and he slipped the checker his credit card. She said debit or credit and I'm holding out my card saying debit...well we argued for a few seconds but he one. He paid for all of my groceries. We had to restock so it was not a cheap bill. I was so guilty feeling and I still don't' understand why he did it. Then we went to get gas in the car and he paid for that. I was able to pay for dinner but it was so cheap it didn't even compare.
Today we drove down to the Mall at Pearl Harbor. It's the Naval Exchange and is one of the largest there is, if not the largest. It's HUGE! I had been here before with my husband and was totally overwhelmed. Today we just took our time and enjoyed ourselves. We ate in the food court and then shopped. When we walked in, the first things we saw were books. I ended up with three books. He insisted on paying for one because he recommended it. He said that way I wouldn't feel like I wasted my money if I hated it. It's called Flyboys. I spent too much money on my son, but it's ok. I don't do it very often at all. I bought him some Mega Blocks that are a Spiderman scene. It is like the scene in the second movie where Doc Oc throws the car through the window of the cafe. It is neat. I bought my husband a few things that I'll post about after he gets them. He does occasionally read this and I would hate for him to find out what they are before they get to him.
After we left there, we headed out to Pear Harbor Naval Station. My grandfather showed me around some. My grandfather is retired Navy so he knows some of what he is talking about so it was interesting. I love seeing the big ships there and sometimes looking at them, it's not hard to imagine the chaos that was probably all around that day. It just floors me. Pearl and Hickam are right by each other so we went to Hickam and he showed me the passenger terminal for flying Space A and the USO there and things like that. It really made me miss my husband because he flew out of there when he left.
We left there and headed home. My grandfather was talking so much that I was sure he was going to miss all of the exits. Traffic in Honolulu is awful in the afternoons so we took forever to get home. During the drive, my grandfather gave me a really big compliment. He said that I was the first grandchild that he spent time with that he was truly completely comfortable with. It was so sweet! I'm really enjoying his visit. Tomorrow we are probably going to go sightseeing some. He has never done any real sightseeing though he's been on the island a ton of times. I'm looking forward to it. It's really nice to have something to look forward to again.
I am really enjoying my visit with my grandfather. I will admit, I was incredibly nervous. The last time I had spent more than a day with him was almost 12 years ago and it ended very badly. He has admitted since then that he was a cranky old man and shouldn't have treated me the way he did. I saw him for my middle sister's wedding and then again for my younger sister's graduation, but that was only for a few hours at a time over a few days. He talks a lot and is going deaf so talks loudly. I don't mind the loud, but he is always joking loudly with people and comes off sounding too serious. He does make friends easily though.
He spent Sunday night at the Hickam AFB and then came to where I live on Monday. We visited a bit and then he took us to the commissary. Considering I hadn't been to the grocery store in a month, it was a treat. My son was having a blast. I was so excited because I saw they had Peeps out for Easter. Well when I went to the other side of the store I found some left over from Valentine's Day. Those are my husband's favorite so I bought about 8 packs to mail to him. We put all of the groceries up on the belt and it was time to pay. Well I was doing something with my son or getting my card out to pay or something and he slipped the checker his credit card. She said debit or credit and I'm holding out my card saying debit...well we argued for a few seconds but he one. He paid for all of my groceries. We had to restock so it was not a cheap bill. I was so guilty feeling and I still don't' understand why he did it. Then we went to get gas in the car and he paid for that. I was able to pay for dinner but it was so cheap it didn't even compare.
Today we drove down to the Mall at Pearl Harbor. It's the Naval Exchange and is one of the largest there is, if not the largest. It's HUGE! I had been here before with my husband and was totally overwhelmed. Today we just took our time and enjoyed ourselves. We ate in the food court and then shopped. When we walked in, the first things we saw were books. I ended up with three books. He insisted on paying for one because he recommended it. He said that way I wouldn't feel like I wasted my money if I hated it. It's called Flyboys. I spent too much money on my son, but it's ok. I don't do it very often at all. I bought him some Mega Blocks that are a Spiderman scene. It is like the scene in the second movie where Doc Oc throws the car through the window of the cafe. It is neat. I bought my husband a few things that I'll post about after he gets them. He does occasionally read this and I would hate for him to find out what they are before they get to him.
After we left there, we headed out to Pear Harbor Naval Station. My grandfather showed me around some. My grandfather is retired Navy so he knows some of what he is talking about so it was interesting. I love seeing the big ships there and sometimes looking at them, it's not hard to imagine the chaos that was probably all around that day. It just floors me. Pearl and Hickam are right by each other so we went to Hickam and he showed me the passenger terminal for flying Space A and the USO there and things like that. It really made me miss my husband because he flew out of there when he left.
We left there and headed home. My grandfather was talking so much that I was sure he was going to miss all of the exits. Traffic in Honolulu is awful in the afternoons so we took forever to get home. During the drive, my grandfather gave me a really big compliment. He said that I was the first grandchild that he spent time with that he was truly completely comfortable with. It was so sweet! I'm really enjoying his visit. Tomorrow we are probably going to go sightseeing some. He has never done any real sightseeing though he's been on the island a ton of times. I'm looking forward to it. It's really nice to have something to look forward to again.
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