It just goes on and on

What does the wife of a PTSD/TBI veteran need more than an unexpected, unplanned, less than 48 hours notice "business trip" 200 miles from her home?  The next 24 hours entailed packing the suitcases, caring for one kid sick with the flu, cleaning the car, fueling the car and trying to keep the baby happy.

Morning dawns on the third day.  Feed the baby.  Baby gets big brother's flu.  I can't stay home because the only way to get to where my husband is going is by driving through the mountains and his chronic migraines leave him unable to drive and he can't miss this meeting because it's required.  Alas, the show must go on.  Say a quick prayer for my sanity and the baby to not decide to christen the interior of my Jeep.

Hubby comes home and goes to sleep so I turn on coverage of "PopeWatch 2013" and hang out while finishing packing clothes, charging electronics, and such.  Pope Francis I was elected at 12:10 our time.  We were still home so we decided to stick around until he made his first appearance.  It's the first new Pope my son will remember.  Honestly, I'm glad we waited.  It was the highlight of my day.

Pope Francis is announced to the world and my husband, ironically the cradle Catholic of the family shoos us out within seconds of him leaving the balcony.  Load the kids up, say another quick prayer, get in the car and get on the road. 

We made it 30 miles before our first set back, big brother having some motion sickness issues due to recently getting over the flu.  Fresh air and some peppermint drops solved the dilemma and onward we went. Arrive at destination 6 hours later taking pictures the whole way at 65 mph out the car window. I remember when I loved my hobby of photography.  I've seriously considered starting a blog while taking these photos called "Photography at 65 MPH" since those are the only photos I take anymore.  Oddly I'm getting rather good at it.

Spend the next 2 hours listening to a conference call for my husband's side business and try to follow the conversation so when he's confused later I can help sort out the issues.  Fortunately his partners know he has TBI and work with me to help.  They like him enough and find him a valuable asset to embrace the crazy that is our world.  I thank God for them daily.

Dinner at 8:30 PM in a nice restaurant.  Great plan with a 10 month old...who comes up with these ideas?  Spent most of the meal pacing around the restaurant until we left and headed back to the hotel where I got to deal with the older one crying because he didn't get to go swimming like I promised.  *sigh*  I hate broken promises.  I absolutely despise them.  There is nothing I hate more than breaking a promise to my child.

Listen to husband ramble for 3 hours about the conference call and try to direct traffic and individual phone calls from various business partners because today wasn't already enough of a challenge, no.  We had to add one partner going crazy on the others to the pile of hurdles I needed to navigate today. Gee, thanks. 

Midnight arrives, I finally get the baby to sleep around the hubbub, and off to bed we go.  Quiet prayers while he's snoring in my ear - oddly enough I don't mind.  He's back to working nights so I'd kind of missed his snoring while I pray.  It's kind of become like an accompaniment.  It may not be a concert hall at the Vatican, but it's certainly better than praying alone every night. 

Baby wakes up at 5:20 - what cruel joke is this?  And he wants to play.  Now.  Load him up in the car to help maintain the peace and drive to McDonald's so I can get some caffeine in my system and allow me to survive the day.  Decide since I'm up to see the sun rise over the mountains I might as well enjoy it.  I grabbed my camera and found a place to park and took about 100 photos of different angles as the sun rose over the mountains.  Honestly it was an amazing experience - and probably the first photos I didn't take at 65 MPH in years.

Pull the car back into my parking spot at the hotel.  Got out and opened the back door of my Jeep in time to find out the baby still had the flu.  Fun fun fun.  Clean the car, clean the seat, wrap the baby in a blanket and head back into the hotel - but I forgot my key.  Walk around the hotel to the front desk and try to prove I am his wife because he didn't put me on the room.  Get back upstairs, bathe the baby and find out older son failed to pack baby's extra clothes he was given three times to put in suitcase.

SCREAM that TBI life sucks when you're the only person over the age of 1 in the house who doesn't have it.

Back to business - no clothes left for the baby.  Everything has been christened in one way or another since we left the house.  I don't even have a clean blanket left to wrap him in that I own.  Decide to let him hang out in a towel and a diaper while I contemplate where to go from here.

Took me about an hour in my sleep deprived state but eventually I remembered I'd bought pajamas the day before on clearance at the store when I went to grab the baby's forgotten socks.  Perfect!  Send my oldest down to grab them from the car and suit up for the day ahead. 

Driving in circles, conference calls, meetings, trying to calm my husband down, trying to explain that no one is trying to screw him over (and praying they actually aren't).

All this to arrive home and find out his therapy appointment for tomorrow has been cancelled (gee, thanks) and that our dog sitter apparently forgot to let the dogs out before we got home.  Ah well, life happens.  Pray about it and move on.