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June 7, 2002

Toured The Big Ship

The Son's Godfather is an adventurer. He goes places we've never dreamed of and always has a tall tale to tell. From encountering sharks in Mexico to the seedy corners of Thailand, a Schager tale is never dull and boring. I met Schager when I first moved to Japan. An old friend of my family was supposed to be taking me out to show me the nightlife. Instead he took me out and ended up leaving me in a bar 'cause his car got towed and he was angry about it. I've been left in bars before but the problem this time was that I didn't know how to use the phone nor did I know where I lived. You see where I lived they didn't have street names. I was at least 45 minutes from our home and I only knew what military base it was by. I wandered for awhile and found this cool little reggage bar, The Kaya Hut. I went in and had a beer and started talking to the D.J., Schager. I told him my story and described my house and street, "A grey house surrounded by graves on a curvy sugar-cane coated street by Courtney." For the record, that could have been any number of houses on any number of streets in that area but Schager knew exactly which one it was and he took me home. From that moment on he's been around. This big burly guy with the softest, sweetest heart of any man I've known. He's the kind of guy that...

when you are around him you feel protected and "small" (that good kind of small feeling you get when you are next to a big manly man... a rare thing for a woman of my stature to feel). We became good friends during my time in Japan and when I came home to America I anticipated his return with joy.

I came home from partying one night (or, rather, early morning) to a note from my roommate telling me that I had to be at the airport the following day to pick up this girl, Michelle, who was coming to live me. Um, what? I didn't invite anyone to come live with me let alone Michelle from Japan whom I knew but was not like "buddies" with. She was an acquaitenance at best. So I figured it was a joke. Something Schager told them to say since I knew he was supposed to be coming home soon and there was no love lost between Schager and said girl. At the airport, I waited and waited and then I saw him. He turned the corner with a big grin and I ran up to him screaming "SCHAGER. I KNEW IT WAS YOU. I knew that Michelle chick wasn't coming." Only to get "shhhh...she's right behind me" whispered in my ear from Schager! Okay, that's tale for a different entry in and of itself. We hugged and hung from time to time. He met my best friend and they've, over the years, become very close. In fact, Schager was the best man at his wedding.

Schager always is doing something exciting. Something of interest. Living on an island off the coast of LA for a few years. Traveling the world on a yacht. Cruising America by rail. He always winds up in some predicament or other with an amazing twist and a perfect outcome. Right now he is engrossed in school... he's doing this merchant marine program in the Bay Area. It is supposedly really amazing and he ships to sea for the summer months for research and training. The ship just docked here in San Diego from Hawaii so we went this morning to see it.

The Son was wide-eyed the entire tour. We saw the big cranes, the huge engines and, his favorite part, the real live telescope. We met the captain, some of the crew. We saw the cook. We went up steps and down steps and all over the boat. A 4 year old paradise.

Schager is on his way over for dinner... what a hostess I am, I've cornered him into making fish for us. For if there is anything Schager is, it is an awesome fish cook. Whoohooo Albacore tuna tonight and Schager tales of glory and bravery. I'm in for an evening.

Posted by shanti at 1:28 PM | Comments (2)

Sleep Update

Well last night was pretty wierd and very encouraging. I put The Daughter to bed at 7:30 then finished working, climbed in bed and skimmed through Kids, Parents & Power Struggles and Easy to Love, Difficult to Discipline just to refresh in my mind how to work better with The Son. Although I know it is mostly sleep deprivation causing me to lose sight of the correct words to use, I did find the latter half of ELDD interesting because it talks about typical behaviours at different ages and The Son is doing all of the four-year-old stuff. At least I know this is normal and not a reaction to my horrible state at the moment.

Anyway, I went to bed and fell fast asleep by 9pm. The Daughter woke at 11pm and I chose to nurse her (my "deal" is that I will nurse her before 11 but not after until the sun comes up). I've been waking her up at 10:30 so I figured 11 was just her responding to those feedings. I fell asleep with her and the next time I woke up it was 2:42. I woke to her sitting up and laying ontop of me, putting her head on my shoulder. She knew what was happening and she tried so hard to put herself to sleep. She changed positions, she really tried and finally about 15 minutes later she was back fast asleep. Unfortunately, I wasn't. My body was reeling from getting those 3.5 hours of sleep!!!!!! It's horrible to want to sleep and yet not be able to. At some point I fell back asleep. The Daughter woke again at 4:14 and we snuggled and she fell back asleep. Then again at 5:30 at which point I nursed her because it was light out. No crying, in fact, no noise at all and an obvious attempt on her part to really fall asleep on her own.

So, it was encouraging. I never thought I'd hear myself say that 3.5 hours is a heck of a long time to sleep but I feel better today... imagine how my life would change with like 5 hours of sleep! Consistently! We can get there...I know we can.

Posted by shanti at 1:14 PM | Comments (1)