one day and a wake-up

when i was in army training, my fellow soldiers and i, anxious to be done with training, would continually keep count of how many days we had left. we would handmake calendars on whatever spare paper we had to contantly remind ourselves how much longer until we were done. because we actually left on graduation day, all we had to do that day was wake up, go to graduation, and then get the hell out, so the count was always the number of full days and "a wake up". to illustrate, if today was Jan. 1, and we graduated on Jan. 3, the count would be "two days and a wake up".

however, there were varying ways of keeping the count of full days. to some, if the day had actually started, it wasn't included in the count. that always helped to increase morale by lessening the duration that much more. for others, like myself, if the day was less than half completed, it was included. but i digress....

this coming saturday, it is La Cognilia's 1st birthday. after La Cognilia was born, we were all able to spend three months together as a family. beginning in october, La Taureau and La Cognilia left for ohio, and over the next 10 months, we have had the following time together;

• 2 weeks at christmas
• 4 days at the beginning of february
• 1 week at the end of april

all total, that's less than three weeks since last october.

this coming saturday is also, not by accident, the day in which i arrive in ohio to take my family home, and the re-start of our life as a family. the first day of the rest of our lives, you might say.

as of this writing, it's just one day and a wake-up....