Experiencing the Trials and Tribulations of being a Single Father One Day at a Time
Greetings from Kentucky! I arrived back in the States on April 9th, but have been extremely busy since then and have not gotten around to writing. Now that I have reintegrated with my family, friends, and coworkers, visited the girls in Texas, and finally have a little free time, I wanted to catch everyone up on what I expected for my return to Fort Campbell and what actually happened.
This has been a difficult year for the girls and I, as we have never been apart this long. And prior to the divorce, we had never been apart more than a month (curse you, Army training). Even though we are an ocean and most of a continent away, the girls and I have been pretty good about communicating with each other over the last six months. Thankfully, this will all be over soon, and we will be able to get back to our daily routine.
Even though I am deployed to Europe and away from my daughters, there are certainly some benefits to being in a different country, mostly being the international cuisine and travel. As stated before, I am prioritizing saving for my daughters’ college savings account over spending money to better enjoy Eastern Europe, but that does not mean I have completely stayed on base. After going to Greece in October, I have had two more opportunities to get out and see a little more of Europe on the Army’s dime.
As stated in previous posts, the last two months have involved me working towards choosing and securing our next duty station, and it has been busy for me and little stressful on all of us. It involved me staying up late researching and writing emails, spending far too much time on the computer (which the girls did not like), and growing very concerned that we were not going to get an assignment that we wanted. Thankfully, everything worked out in the end, but we are all a little exhausted from the experience.
This was another fun yet busy weekend for Team Calkins (last weekend we spent in Phoenix, which I will post about later). As much as I talk about needing to take a step back and relax, it is just not something that we do. To quote Russell from Up, “Adventure is out there!;” we are not going to find it sitting at home, especially in the time of COVID (who’s impact we continue to manage very well). So the girls had a sleepover at their friend’s house while I ran a marathon. Sounds like a pretty good time for them.
Adventures in Single Dadding 