Departure

As I sit here waiting to board my flight, I'm wondering what I did to be blessed with such a great family. Coming home makes me wonder why I don't do it more often. These past few days have been the most difficult days I have ever experienced, but they've also been filled with joy and love. When I married Kyle I was well aware of what I was promising, which included following him wherever the military may lead him. I would make the same promise again tomorrow, but I'd do it with a heavier heart. Seems like the Air Force charged me a non-refundable experience this time, I missed my chance to say goodbye. Unfortunately, even if I would have made it home earlier, the situation at hand would still be the same. I swear, I would have rather cut my own ears off a million times over than to see my dad struggle through this situation.

I wasn't expecting it, but it also didn't surprise me when my parents basically bent over backward to make sure that Brittney and I were well taken care of during our short stay in Michigan. I'm going home with new clothes and shoes, and cash to spare. It's no surprise that I had to check a bag this time around. I regret not being able to be at the funeral with my family today, and I'll probably have regret for quite some time. "We'll see you soon enough," I'm sure that's what Grandpa would say. I remember every Sunday morning, Grandpa and Grandma would come over after 8:30 mass, but before 10:30 mass. I was always sleeping whenever they got there, I'd be trying to catch as much sleep as possible. I'd tell myself I only needed 15 minutes to get ready in the morning, even though that really wasn't the case. I would come walking up those stairs at 9:50, looking like I'd been out all night. Grandpa would just say "Well hello Jessie!" They were usually sitting at the dining room table with my parents drinking coffee, black coffee. Mom would always have something on the table, weather it was cookies, cake, or whatever the neighbor had brought over the night before. Grandma would be fighting with herself, did she want a cookie, or didn't she want a cookie? Just have a cookie Gram.

I don't want to leave Michigan. I don't want to leave my mom and I don't want to leave my dad. I don't want to leave Grandma and I don't want to leave Maggie. In the end though, I belong with my husband. My husband, the one who gets lonely when I'm not there at night, and the one who cannot cook for himself. The same one who was so proud that he loaded and unloaded the dishwasher the other day. The one who wanted to know if the taco meat in the fridge was still good (I told him 'yes' by the way... not for sure if that was the right answer). I will do my best not to stay so long this time around, I don't think I could stand it.

I will end this with answering my dad's concern for "his own children". There was never a question, you are a great father.

Duane Joseph Henige 01/21/35 - 11/4/09

A Tribute

to be continued...

Watch where you put your cheese...

So Kyle and I went grocery shopping a few days ago. Just a normal shopping trip, nothing unusual about it. Kyle pushes the cart, I take charge of the list and put everything in the cart. Sometimes I forget that I have someone following me with a cart though, so I tend go through areas that maybe a cart won't fit. Well it was time to pick out my shredded cheese. Kyle was right behind me with the cart, or so I thought. I went to put my package in the cart before turning around. I realized too late that it wasn't Kyle behind me. So I just had to say "Oops, you're not my husband," and I took my cheese back. It made it so much worse when I realized that Kyle had seen the whole exchange. It took him about 5 minutes to stop laughing, and then another 5 minutes for the blood to drain back out of my face. Whew! Anyway, how cute are my chocolate covered cereal treats? I made these for my last day of work, they went over quite well too. There's going to be a craft show here in Knob in a month or so, and I think I may try my hand at that. Try to sell some of my cereal treats and what-not. We'll see though. So here's Bandit. He's begging for a treat. We've taught him how to sit and shake. Now if we could only teach him that biting isn't nice, we'd be all set. Kyle's still on his crazy shift, and from the sounds of it he won't be done with it for at least another week. I still don't have a job, but I put in a few applications around town here. I'd just prefer to work in Knob Noster for now, so I don't have to drive more than two miles to get to work. Other than that, nothing new here. Goodnight! -Jess

Siamese Twins

Seriously, this is how they fell asleep. This is nothing new though. They're best friends now, they're actually chasing each other around the house right now, leaving destruction in their path. So I'm unemployed, last Friday was my last day at Embarq, and I really do miss everyone there. I'm thinking about just putting in an application for McDonald's until I get my CNA license. It's about 1/4 mile away from where we live so it would be super close. Plus, I don't want to get involved in a job where they are looking for a permanent employee. School is going great. I really like it. We just toured the nursing home that we will be doing our clinical training in last night. It's amazing! I don't know what I wouldn't do to work there. They have what they call a "bail-out" program. You work 12 hours Saturday and 12 hours Sunday (so 24 hours) and you get paid for working 36! Now that would be awesome. I just finished my second week of class, and at the end of this month I will be done. Bandit is doing very well. His owner finally came for him about 3 weeks ago... a month late! He said "I see you've been keeping an eye on my dog," but I had to tell him no. A man that cares that little about his dog doesn't deserve to have a dog in the first place. This second picture is just a normally everyday thing. It's not a joke, they really fell asleep like this. She uses him as a pillow quite often. Kyle has been on another one of his crazy shifts. He's working 12 hours, and I've been leaving for school before he gets home most nights. So the only time I really see him is when he's sleeping. Good news though, he passed his big test that he's been studying for since we moved here 9 months ago, and he ranked up on Wednesday! So instead of Airman Miller, he is now, Airman 1st Class Miller or A1C. Something else crazy, Kimberly is gone. About two weeks ago I noticed that she wasn't next door anymore. I hadn't seen her kids in a while either. I caught up with her last night on Yahoo! Messenger, and she said that she filed for divorce the other day. Torey, her husband, is still next door though. Kyle hangs out with him on the weekends still. Things are really starting to change around here. Well, I hope everyone is still doing well. Talk to you soon! -Jess

Don't Worry...

Yea... don't worry I'm still alive. It's late and I just remembered I haven't posted in forever!! I'm about to head to bed though so I will write tomorrow. I have a lot to say... so consider yourself warned! 'Night! - Jess

Bandit

Here he is. This was the only good picture I was able to get out of probably 10 or 20 shots. He was too happy about his new munchie bone to even look at me. We decided to name him Bandit. His old owners were calling him King, but that was just too much irony. We've been making it a point to take him walking as much as we can. We call him our little rotisserie chicken, because he's got such a belly on him. He'll lay down on the garage floor with his legs sprawled out behind him, but you can barely see toes under his belly. He basically looks like a chicken that has been roasting for 8 hours, it's hilarious. We've already taught him how to sit and how to shake, so that's a very good sign. The first night he was with us though, he did ruin my flowers. I knew it was coming though, it would either be the dog or the cold weather eventually. If it was the middle of summer we'd be able to fix them, but it's no use now. But anyway, nothing else new. I'll make sure to keep you updated on the job situation. I'm not too worried, though. School starts in 9 days, and I'm VERY excited. Well... later Michigan! -Jess

Okay now, hear me out...

He had no place to go, and he is so cute! There is this man who lives down the street from us. His daughter is friends with Kimberly's (my neighbor) daughter, Autumn. Well he got evicted from his place and he asked Kimberly to watch his puppy until Tuesday (Sept. 1). Well he never showed, and he hasn't been back since. They were about to take it to the pound but Kyle stopped them. So we adopted a pup last night. I'll take pictures of him and post them tonight. He's a very sweet dog, and he is very protective. He will run next to you without a leash, and he will come when you call. We figure if we can't find a good home for him, then we'll just keep him. He did poo all over the garage last night though. We even had the garage door cracked, but apparently he didn't want to go outside to go potty. Maybe he's mad at me, because he went right behind my tires and there was no other option other than to back over it. Luckily Kyle is back to working second shift, so he can clean it while I'm at work. What are husbands for anyway? A bit of bad news, or should I say a bit of expected news. All of us contractors were pulled into the meeting room today and given our two weeks notice. They don't need us anymore, so we're done September 25th. Aerotek offered me another job, the only problem is, it's in Lees Summit. The drive is equivalent to driving from Chesaning to Lansing. I may take it though, at least until I'm done with school. But anyway, I need to get back to work. Just wanted to let you in on the good, the bad and the ugly news. Later Michigan! -Jess