Joey's home!

Joey, soldier bro', randomly decided to come home this weekend for a visit. He also decided to make it a surprise and rope me into being his accomplice. Naturally, the first thing I did was text my dad and inform him that Joey was coming home but to pretend he was surprised. My family does not do well with surprises. They are invariably gone on a long trip / replacing the toilet / not speaking to each other (it is amazing how silent a house with eleven people can actually be) / in the throes of influenza / at the ER / protesting a rezoning law / digging a well / giving birth / buying a dog / taking the ACT / giving twelve pets a flea bath* when you try to surprise them.

Joey arm wrestling Abe and Sam

After picking Joey up at the airport, we took Joey and Abe to dinner at Figaro's, where the salad is literally so good I would take it from a small child (kids don't like salad anyway, right?). We drove across the lake to my parent's house on the Northshore where everyone valiantly pretended to be surprised...we ended up staying a long time, and since the drive home is an hour, David and I didn't get into bed until almost 2 am. Unfortunately that's all the visit we got, since Joey was only home briefly to pick up his car and drive it back to Georgia.
I think it's a 12 hour drive so that sucks. But we were all glad to see Joey alive and well and I think he was happy to get some real food; that child ate enough pasta at Figaro's to fill a bathtub.

Anyone else have military family? How do you handle the long trips and distance?
My Dad was a Coast Guard officer before he retired and, when he was captaining ships, would be gone often for long periods of time. He retired and became a school teacher and he's home twice as much now! I think it kind of drives my mom nuts!


* These are actual examples.