Drowning

I'm so overwhelmed lately I don't know where to even start this post. I'm drowning in a sea of self-doubt, inadequacy, and fear. I'm depressed about my divorce, my inability to find a job, and being a good friend and mom.  I guess the best place to start is the beginning, my divorce.

I'm terrified.  He left yesterday on deployment and I guess that's what's triggered all of this because it's like the final nail in my married life coffin. When he returns, I'll be filing for divorce and officially ending all of this- you'd think that would make me happy, but it doesn't- not really.  I will forever question myself over whether or not I fought hard enough to save it.  Did I really make an effort at all? He wanted out, had another life, another family and he was happy- why should I stand in the way of that? He's been largely absent from the boys' lives since he moved out over a year ago, and I resent him for that- absolutely hate him.  How can you not make an effort to be in the life of your kids? They need him, but I've been blessed to have another man step up and raise them like they're his own.  The boys claim he's going to be moving closer to us once he's off this deployment and I guess that's what scares me the most- he'll prove to be the more capable parent and I'll lose them.

I'm incredibly lonely, it's not fair he gets to move on like nothing happened and I'm left with the scars. I've been depending too greatly on my friends and it's starting to wear on them.  My temper is incredibly short with everyone, it doesn't take much for me to go off and most recently I did so on my best friend over something she innocently vented about.  I'm jealous of her life I guess, and when she complains I just want to shout "don't you realize how lucky you are to have all of that?"  She knows, she's knows greatly just how blessed she is, but I take it as an affront.  I apologize because I know she's incredibly grateful, generous, and gracious with all she's been blessed with, I hate myself after I scold her.  She's the best thing in my life and I'm going to lose her if I can't straighten out. She might be the most perfect example of humble Christian that I know.  She certainly lives the life better than many, many, others at our church.  So for the life of me I can't understand why I get so bent out of shape about her venting- we all need to vent. I just need to listen to her and offer a sympathetic ear/shoulder.

I was blessed enough to pick up a half time teaching job last year at IMS, and I loved it, but it wasn't a continuing contract. So come July 1st I was officially unemployed and seemingly unemployable. I had several interviews and I was passed over every time.  My fear is that I'm an inadequate teacher- no this past year wasn't my best but how am I going to get better if I don't have another chance.  I'll be back at IMS this year as a perm sub, but I don't know if my heart is really in it? Should I still be teaching? What if I got this wrong too? I have these annoying, nagging, little voices in my head that constantly remind me of every stupid thing I've said or done- ever, like going back decades.  I'm always waiting for the other shoe to drop and my life to just fall deeper into a hole.  I can't seem to come up for a breath and catch a break.  I know I should be grateful for the things I have that are going my way but I feel like I'm continually being punished.  I'm so blessed to even have a job, I cannot let my fear of failure stand in the way.

I've lost my faith, too.  Not my understanding of it, not my love of God, but my belief that I'm worthy enough to be accepted by someone unconditionally.  I can't pray lately, I can't have those open conversations with God that I used to depend on so deeply. I can't bring myself to go to church and really listen.  It's draining me to hold on to all of this so deeply and not be able to turn it over to God.  It could be why my temper is so short and I have no desire to do anything. I'm worrying my friends and I'm failing my kids.  I can't bear to lose any of them, but I'm coming awfully close to losing all of them.

I'm not used to having people help me, to want to help me- asking for/needing help is a sign of weakness in my mind. So I don't know how to respond and when I do I screw something up by saying the wrong thing.  I don't believe that I'm a good enough person to deserve their love or support.  I have hundreds of people who love me and care for me but I only succeed in pushing them away.  Why? Because I'm drowning in all of this fear and self loathing.  I'm afraid that I'm going to pull those closest to me into the abyss as well.  Darkness breeds only darkness- but I don't know how to escape it.  So, in my mind, my only hope is to push away everyone that tries to help so they can't get hurt too.  Makes perfectly illogical sense right?

I'm about to lose her.  I love her more than anything and I'm driving her away.  If I lose her, I lose myself.

Anchors

So.... it's been awhile.  So much has changed- now I'm a single mom raising two boys far from blood family, but very close to my dearest friends.  I'm not going to rehash the past four years, it doesn't do anyone any good. It happened, I'm trying to move on, life continues.

I just finished my third year as the director of Vacation Bible School at church. I'm exhausted but there's something about this week that renews my faith every year. Maybe it's the innocent faith of the children I'm around. Maybe it's the dedicated youth that share their time to serve others.  Maybe it's the fact I get to be a goofy kid again myself.  Either way I always come off the week recharged.

Once again our main theme was trusting God. God guides, provides, saves, and never leaves us so we have to trust God.  My decision to reestablish my life in Virginia after the divorce was not one I took lightly.  There were so many things I carefully weighed out before making that decision and I'm happy with it. Why didn't I move back? Life would have been easier with family around to help right? But that's not what I was called to do. My place is here. I've cast my anchor here. I'm trusting God who brought me here in the first place, well God and the US Navy.

I have a love of anchors. I couldn't really tell you why exactly, the lore behind them is fascinating and the connection to faith is powerful. It has nothing to do with the Navy either. My first tattoo was an anchor with the word 'hope' in the shank. Hebrews 6:19 "We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure." My hope is built on my faith, I don't know what's coming next but I'm taking the first step because I believe God isn't going to leave me here to flounder. He has plans for me, for the boys, and I don't need to know the final result to know that I'm not alone in the journey.

Anyone who sails can tell you that anchors have several purposes. Yes if you drop an anchor to the bottom it will keep you from drifiting. In stormy weather you drop more than one to help secure your position.  But you can't remain so immovable that your ship gets destroyed by the storm. You must move with the waves, the big ones, the little ones. You'll get wet, a little battered even, but by moving with the storm you save yourself.  Sometimes I forget this lesson and dig in my anchors so deeply that I can't be moved: stubborn, immovable, and getting destroyed. It takes hitting rock bottom sometimes to remember though that God has been my rock all through the storm- he has my anchor held tight- he just needs me to move with the waves.

Another use of anchors is just to slow you down, you're ok to move with the currents of the water but you really don't want to lose control of your ship.  I tend to run headfirst into a situation- charge of the light brigade level- I attack full speed then quickly realize I can't handle what's actually going on, or I move on too quickly with out resolving what I really need to learn. My anchors help me slow down and stay on course.

I'm not going to sink, I'm going to stay the course. "I am the master of my ship, I am the captain of my soul." (Invictus, Henley). I know my anchors will hold because I have them anchored in Christ. He will not fail me, he never has despite the fact I fail him daily. That's love beyond all fathomable understanding, and I'm so blessed to have it.

Have you hugged your vet today?

To begin with, let me say I think anyone that serves in the military is an incredible patriot. The kind of sacrifice they go through is beyond compare- I only know it from the wife standpoint. I'm what's known as the "Silent Ranks" we serve just as devotedly as our spouses yet we give them all the glory. I saw a coffee mug that kind of summed everything up "Superhero cleverly disguised as a Military wife" Navy men will tell you, wives have the toughest job. We go for days without hearing from our spouse, just praying they have survived the day. For months on end, we attend FRG meetings waiting for the day we hear they're coming home. We put on brave faces and try not to cry when we see them off, and we yell louder than anyone when they make port. But I wouldn't trade it for anything, because my husband, and the servicemen and women like him, are the reason the rest of us can sleep at night with out fear.

That being said, I think my husband rocks. He's a firecontrolman- he works on something akin to a gattlin gun called CIWS (see-whiz) or Close in Weapons System. He finished all of his schooling with an average above 93 and earned a special commendation from the base commandant. He's being promoted (Petty Officer 3rd Class) on the 16th and I wish I could be there to attach his new insignia. In addition to his classroom responsibilities, Danny took the time to lead a study group and help his fellow sailors study for the upcoming tests. FC is not an easy rate (job)- it requires the second highest ASVAB scores in the service. His scores qualified for the highest scoring rate (Navy Nuke) but he was too old (and I think a little too tall to be a bubble head). He also tried out for and made Honor Guard for Great Lakes NAS- a pretty elite group. Being the tallest he was assigned the ensign bearer (he carried the American Flag). They got to do all sorts of fun things: parades, basketball games (even a Bulls game), retirements, etc. But I think the coolest thing was Honor Flight Chicago.

HFC is a program that flies WWII vets to Washington, D.C. to see their memorial. The veterans get a big send off at O'Hare and spend several days touring D.C. Most of the members of this Greatest Generation are well into their seventies and eighties, the bulk require wheelchairs to move around, and a few are even on oxygen. You can imagine the logistics for getting 80 something wheelchair bound vets to D.C. is a bit of an undertaking, but HFC does an incredible job. The best part is the veterans homecoming. They are met at the gate by thousands of supporters, active duty military, firefighters, police officers, fellow veterans, bands, and a special honor guard to lead them through the airport. That's where Danny comes in- he participated in two HFC homecomings and said the stories are absolutely incredible. Every service member should be welcomed home like this even if they're just coming home for Christmas. We did a much smaller version of this for Danny when he came home for Christmas this past year.

If you know a veteran or active duty military, even if it's the greeter at Wal-mart: Stop and tell them how much you appreciate what they did for our country. It wasn't/isn't an easy job they have, but we seem to easily overlook them.

Salutations!

Well in an effort to keep up with family and friends that don't have Facebook (and refuse to get it - mother), I've created the Wallace Family blog. I guess I should take this time to introduce myself and get you up to speed on what's been happening lately.

I've happily married for over 4 years to my best friend of almost 15 years, Danny. We have two beautiful boys, Rhett, who's 3 1/2, and Rylan, who's 3 months. I have two bachelors degrees in history and swore up in down while in college that I'd never teach. Guess what I do? I teach history to middle schoolers. And by some strange twist of fate (proof God has a sense of humor) I also coached girl's volleyball, basketball, and track. The three sports I've never even watched much less coached. Those girls taught me more about being a role model than anything I've ever done before, hopefully I was able to teach them a few things too. I was blessed to teach at one of the finest middle schools in East Texas- New Diana. The faculty and staff are absolutely wonderful and the kids make teaching a joy. I left after one year because of a few major life changes (Navy and baby) but I can't wait to get back in the classroom and I'd be honored to teach at Diana again. I made some life long friendships in nine short months.

Danny and I made the decision last year (yes, we made it together) to join the Navy- in other words he became a Sailor and I became a member of the silent ranks known as the Military Spouse. He left suddenly February 8th and I became a single parent. We're coming up on one year apart but our relationship is stronger than ever. We're getting ready to move to our first duty station (it's called PCSing) at NAS Dam Neck (otherwise known as Virginia Beach, Virginia - darn the luck). He's what's called a Firecontrolman - in short he shoots at things. Well he works on the computers that cause the guns to shoot at things. I think he likes it, the separation part is not his favorite, but I think he agrees it was a great career move and means to provide for our family.

Rhett is our boy genius. He can tell you all about the solar system, water cycle, human body, and 50 states, and read at a first grade level: but can't write his name or abc's properly. Somedays I think his best friend is my last nerve... they do everything together. He's brilliant, honestly brilliant- he carries on conversations with you like he's an adult; which makes me forget sometimes that he's only three. He's very loving and wants to "hold you" when he's tired. He's a constant ball of energy going everywhere at full speed- unless it's something he doesn't want to do (see also: get dressed, run errands, pick up toys). He's the only three year old I know that doesn't like to run around outside and get dirty, but we're trying to work soccer and basketball into fun outdoor activities. He's in the "Mommy can you do this for me" stage, also known as the "I Can'ts" - I hate the I can'ts particularly when he hasn't tried (this is where I have to remind myself that he's only 3). He's taking Danny's absence really hard and asks for his daddy every night. Thankfully we can talk to him over webcam so Rhett has fun with that. Danny's incredibly patient with Rhett, listening to every question, responding to every silly sound- he's such a great father- the boys (and I) are blessed to have him.

Rylan was our Navy Bootcamp baby. I found out I was preggo with him about three weeks after he left for Great Lakes- I had to tell him in a letter. Going through the whole pregnancy without him wasn't new (we had to do the same thing with Rhett while he was in college at A&M), but juggling Rhett too led to the discovery that I'm not supermom. But, I don't think he'll need too much therapy later in life. Rylan arrived October 27, 2009 and Danny got to listen in on the phone. Him not being there for the birth was tough for both of us, but there was no way he could have come. He first held Rylan when he came home for two weeks at Christmas and there was an instant bond. Rylan is our inquisitive child, he has to be up looking around and hands on. He's a big cuddler with huge smiles and a great laugh.

That's about it for the family. I'll be posting pictures and updating hopefully on a regular basis. Please keep in touch!