Valentine's Day 2010

Seeing that Andy had to work yesterday, we had planned to have our Valentine's Day on one of his days off, which, along with my parent's coming out to visit us this past week, was two weeks ago. Despite this, Andy still managed to come home with a dozen hocus pocus roses and an iPod touch! I have the best husband in the world...

Gift-giving guilt

Do you guys ever feel guilty at the giving/receiving of gifts? I do. Perhaps it's because I'm a stay-at-home mom now and am not generating much money. Perhaps it's because my husband and I are trying to save money. It's not to say that I don't think of my husband when I'm out shopping. I do! I'll pass things and say to myself, "Andy would really like that." In another life, I would buy it (but in that other life, would we even be in the same situation?), but in my present situation, I feel guilty making any sporadic, unplanned purchases.
Then you come to days like yesterday, Valentine's Day, and feel retarded when your husband hands you a brand new iPod and all you have is a card and a box of chocolates... I suppose I could do other things for him. For instance, I decided to clean the whole house for him yesterday - in depth. That is still going on today. I could make him something. I could make an elaborate, romantic feast for dinner for yesterday, but the problem their is money. Would he yell at me for my random acts of kindness?
Anyway, I'll be working on this with my husband. Thankfully, this is something we can talk about together to try to find a solution. It is these problems, I think, when you work on them together, that make a marriage stronger.


Update-
Andy came home from work today with a big pain in his lower right abdomen. He was afraid it might have been appendicitis, so he and Nick went to the minor emergency clinic. It turned out to be simply pain resulting from his hernia surgery a year ago. This was really bad, he couldn't sleep and he said it was the worst pain he's ever had. This also means that his pain shots are wearing off...
Because of his medical situation, he has been told by his superiors that as soon as he graduates from Nuke school that he is going to be denuked. The only reason they are pushing him through the school now is because it would be seen as a failure on the part of the school by if he did not graduate. Naval Reactors is the company that supervises all nuclear operations to ensure their safety and responsibility... basically means they are a pain in the buttocks. Even though the Navy knows that Andy won't be a nuke, they can't let him change jobs now because they have Naval Reactors breathing down their necks. The problem is that Andy is in so much pain that it is hard for him to even generate the motivation necessary to go in their every day. Please pray for him, that he is able to stick it out until May when he graduates and that he gets a new job that he actually likes and can help us prepare for life after the Navy.

Thanks,
KR