Elder Brendan never committed to a time when he was Skyping us on Christmas.
This
left me spending a good part of Christmas morning refreshing my inbox
to see if he would pop on and let us know that he was ready to call in.
The time finally arrived for Elder Jayden to call in, so Sam set up the laptop, and suddenly Brendan was on!
Our two boys had arranged together to call at the same time.
Sure enough, Jayden was on about five minutes later.
This whole Christmas season was a blur for me. I feel like I never got time to sit down and enjoy it, let alone plan for this missionary call.
Brendan stuck to his mission rules and cut the call off after 30 minutes.
We were split between talking to him or Jayden, and switched back and forth, and it was all very sudden and chaotic.
I loved having them both on, but I also felt like I wanted one-on-one, personal time with each of them, and the whole experience left me feeling quite hollow.
In full disclosure, later that night, when the kids ditched me for their electronics, and Sam went to work his graveyard shift- I drew a nice hot bath and had a good cry.
I wasn't prepared for my reaction to seeing Elder Brendan again. It ripped a barely healed wound right open again- and dang, I just really miss him.
When
he had been on for about five minutes, he started to pick and tug at
his neckline. And finally in a burst of frustration his ripped his tie
off. Then he unbuttoned his top two buttons, and sunk into the chair
looking visibly more relaxed.
On the other side of the screen, when all this went down, Jayden was quietly uncomfortable and maybe a little mortified at this behavior.
"He's not even wearing his badge" Elder Jayden pointed out, and Elder Brendan said "Oh crap! That's still on my coat in the car."
I have to laugh a little over the personality differences here, and the changes that these missionaries make. One out in the field only six months, and one with barely two left.
Two years makes a big difference in so many ways.
Elder Brendan has been spending time doing service
for the actual Parks and Rec. Dept. in Indiana Brendan was a huge fan of
Parks and Rec. the T.V. series, so this whole hook-up is what dreams are
made of. At the close of our conversation he said "hey just by the way,
me and Elder Taka might buy a pig and roast it haha the park people
said we could use the park."
Internets, I have so many questions.
Stayed tuned.
The time finally arrived for Elder Jayden to call in, so Sam set up the laptop, and suddenly Brendan was on!
Our two boys had arranged together to call at the same time.
Sure enough, Jayden was on about five minutes later.
This whole Christmas season was a blur for me. I feel like I never got time to sit down and enjoy it, let alone plan for this missionary call.
Brendan stuck to his mission rules and cut the call off after 30 minutes.
We were split between talking to him or Jayden, and switched back and forth, and it was all very sudden and chaotic.
I loved having them both on, but I also felt like I wanted one-on-one, personal time with each of them, and the whole experience left me feeling quite hollow.
In full disclosure, later that night, when the kids ditched me for their electronics, and Sam went to work his graveyard shift- I drew a nice hot bath and had a good cry.
I wasn't prepared for my reaction to seeing Elder Brendan again. It ripped a barely healed wound right open again- and dang, I just really miss him.
On the other side of the screen, when all this went down, Jayden was quietly uncomfortable and maybe a little mortified at this behavior.
"He's not even wearing his badge" Elder Jayden pointed out, and Elder Brendan said "Oh crap! That's still on my coat in the car."
I have to laugh a little over the personality differences here, and the changes that these missionaries make. One out in the field only six months, and one with barely two left.
Two years makes a big difference in so many ways.
 |
| When the tie came off. |
 |
| Christmas Day with the Hess family |
Internets, I have so many questions.
Stayed tuned.
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