"It looks like we're a family now!"

Last Friday, after the pomp and circumstance of homecoming had died down and we had escaped from the commotion of the celebrating crowd, our little family retreated home to enjoy the novelty of being together. I can’t remember if it was while we were driving in the car that afternoon or while sitting around the dinner table later that evening, but Josie took a good look around and tabulated a mental inventory- Josie, Jamie, Johnny, Mommy, and Daddy- and then declared boisterously, “It looks like we’re a family now!” James and I turned towards each other and exchanged ear-to-ear smiles.

Josie's depiction of our family (from left: Mommy, Jamie, Josie, Daddy, Johnny)

 The next day was difficult for everyone because James had to return to the ship for a full day of duty. The kids, struggling to grasp the concept of time, didn’t understand that Daddy would be home again the next day. Josie had convinced herself that since Daddy was going back to work on the ship it meant he would be gone again for a long time. There was a lot of crying. Everyone’s emotions were on edge. In the afternoon Jamie was sent to his room for popping Josie’s metallic pony balloon and Josie, picking up on the change in household atmosphere compared to the previous day, spoke through her sniffles, saying, “It looks like we’re not a family anymore.” When I told this story to James, it made us both cry. He spent the next couple of days trying to convince Josie that we are a family even when Daddy has to be away.

I agree whole-heartedly with James that family is family, even when we’re not physically together, and I tried to help him put this complicated idea into simple words that our preschooler (soon to be kindergartener!) could understand. But, solely off the record, I think that Josie made a good point….

Since last September we have been a scattered, dismembered, semi-functional family. We lived in separate hemispheres and different time zones, we relied on separate friends and different acquaintances, and we had separate experiences and different adventures. So with very little to hold us together except our last names and a shared goal for the future, at times it was a struggle to feel like a real family.

But not this week. This week we are milking “family togetherness” for all its worth. On Monday, because James had duty again, we took dinner to the ship and enjoyed the view from the fantail and the pilot house in an extended tour.

On Tuesday we headed to Virginia Beach for some fun in the sun and the sand and then called it a day after a round of ice cream cones.

On Wednesday we went to see a movie at the Cinema Café and then we celebrated Johnny’s 1^st birthday.

On Thursday we took a trip to the Virginia Aquarium to gawk at all kinds of fascinating sea creatures.

On Friday we went to a cookout hosted by a few of James’ shipmates and sweated from every orifice in the 109 degree (plus humidity) heat.

It’s been quite a week, to be sure, full of family memory making moments. We are once again sharing the same adventures, in the same hemisphere, and in the same time zone. And eventhough we technically never stopped being a family by the dictionary definition of the word, I think it’s an accurate assessment to say, “It looks like we’re a family now!” and it feels like we are too.