Jack is gone now. It's just me, the puppy, the kitty, and our seldom mentioned fish, Rock Chalk, who is not doing so well without his proper caretaker.
All in all, things are going well. Jack and I are certainly used to being apart, just not apart as husband and wife. In general, I think this separation now is better than the separation we endured as a dating couple. There is less stress because being married is just so wonderful and stable. The only thing that really stinks is just plain missing each other. It's funny how I thought that Jack and I were close when we were dating, and when we were engaged too, but the closeness in being married is just at a different level. We certainly were close before we were married, but so much more so now in a way that is not even possible to describe. I believe it is the grace of God working in our marriage, the same grace that joined us together as one flesh. So even though we are oceans apart, even though the we are mostly out of contact, we are still one. It makes me think of all the people who are in relationships without this beauty. Jack and I certainly have a lot to learn about marriage, but I truly wish everyone could experience the beauty of a sacramental marriage.
The worst part for me is getting used to being alone, especially at night. I had some practice my sophomore year of college, when my roommate suddenly moved out and I was all alone in a creepy, dark brick building on campus. But then, I was about a 30 second walk to my friends' room and 100 yards away from my sisters' dorm. Here, in this city, I am strangely alone.
Last night, the alarm in the house suddenly went off. It sounded like a fire alarm, blaring and screeching in that hair-raising way that made me want to run away as fast as possible. After scrambling around frantically, I realized there was no smoke. I didn't know if there was a security alarm that I didn't know about, so I called my mom in a panic. She directed me to call 911, which I've never done before in my life. Police officers came and checked out the house and narrowed the alarm down to the carbon monoxide alarm. They called the fire department who came and checked out all of the CO levels. Everything was normal and they deemed the problem a faulty alarm. They took out the alarm's batteries and then took Jack's carbon monoxide alarm from the basement and put upstairs. They left, so I tried to relax and fall asleep. At 1 am, the alarm went off again (this time, the newly placed carbon monoxide alarm) and the firemen had to come back. They quickly realized it was just the smoke detectors and not the carbon monoxide alarm. Since all the smoke detectors are hardwired into the wall and interconnected, there was no way of knowing which alarm was malfunctioning. They left, and a city utilities person came and checked around the house to confirm that there was no carbon monoxide. I went to bed at 3am and was woken up at 5am again by the alarms. I did the math and realized they were going off every 4 hours. Sure enough, they went off at 9am. The repairman came out to fix it today; however, after he left, the alarms continued to go off every 4 hours. I'm tense knowing that they are going to wake me up again tonight and freak me out. But it is what it is. At least I know it's not a burglar or carbon monoxide poisoning.
I felt pretty embarrassed and worn down after the firemen left for the second time. I know that this is their job and everything, that it's better to be safe than sorry, etc etc, but I also know that if I would have just stayed calm, I could have figured out that it was just the smoke detectors malfunctioning. If Jack was here, he would have known right away. But at least I know now.
It's funny, because the repairman today wasn't quite sure why the alarms would go off every 4 hours. Obviously they are going to need to be replaced, but he did think it was pretty strange. A friend mentioned to me today that everything seems to go wrong as soon as our husbands leave. It made me think about why this whole alarm scare would happen now. The only explanation I can come up with is that the Lord is just throwing me into freezing cold water so that I can learn how to swim.
Well, of course, I'm going to swim.
No comments:
Post a Comment