"Me Time"

This school year has been really interesting for me. For the first time in 8 years, I get regular alone time. 30 hours a week usually. When I look at that number it seems luxurious and excessive. Of course that is six hours a day, five days a week while the boys are at school. Time I fill with my own school work, house work, errands, computer and television time, and yes...sometimes naps..you may or may not be surprised how fast those six hours go each day. But it is my time, and I can squander it, or use it efficiently at my discretion.

Chief on the other hand, gets very little alone time. He works all day, spends his evenings and most weekends with us. Sure, he's got a long commute, but he still has to pay attention to the road, and watch out for the ones that don't, etc... So really the only alone time he gets is jumping.

Jumping? You ask? Jumping out of a perfectly good airplane. So he jumps out, and for a minute or so, he is alone. Training takes over for a bit to get him positioned right, but then he is perfectly alone with his heartbeat. He is literally above worldly concerns..can you imagine?

I think that is a different kind of alone, different from just having the house to yourself. That is a kind of alone that I think only the bravest can handle...even if it didn't require jumping from an airplane.