The Riley Factor

LOVE

I stole this from someone, but I thought it was cute, and true, and well...it made me smile, so maybe it will do the same for someone else who reads it. Smiling is a good thing, and sometimes finding something to make you smile, can be hard to come by...so I think when you do, its a good thing to share it with someone else.

here goes:
Love
A deep, tender feeling of intense desire, affection and attraction toward a person

What does Love mean?

A group of professional people posed this question to a group of 4 to 8
year-olds, "What does love mean?"

The answers they got were broader and deeper than anyone could have
imagined. See what you think:

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"When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn't bend over and paint her
toenails anymore.

So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got
arthritis too. That's love."

Rebecca- age 8

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"When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different.

You just know that your name is safe in their mouth."

Billy - age 4

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"Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and
they go out and smell each other."

Karl - age 5

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"Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries
without making them give you any of theirs."

Chrissy - age 6

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"Love is what makes you smile when you're tired."

Terri - age 4

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"Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before
giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK."

Danny - age 7

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"Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of kissing,
you still want to be together and you talk more.
My Mommy and Daddy are like that. They look gross when they kiss"

Emily - age 8

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"Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening
presents and listen."

Bobby - age 7 (Wow)

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"If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who
you hate,"

Nikka - age 6 (thats deep)

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"Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it
everyday."

Noelle - age 7

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"Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends
even after they know each other so well."

Tommy - age 6

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"During my piano recital, I was on a stage and I was scared. I looked at
all the people watching me and saw my daddy waving and smiling.

He was the only one doing that. I wasn't scared anymore."

Cindy - age 8

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"My mommy loves me more than anybody .

You don't see anyone else kissing me to sleep at night."

Clare - age 6

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"Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken."

Elaine-age 5

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"Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is
handsomer than Robert Redford."

Chris - age 7

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"Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all
day."

Mary Ann - age 4

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"I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes
and has to go out and buy new ones."

Lauren - age 4

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"When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars
come out of you."

Karen - age 7

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"Love is when Mommy sees Daddy on the toilet and she doesn't think it's
gross."

Mark - age 6

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"You really shouldn't say 'I love you' unless you mean it. But if you mean
it, you should say it a lot. People forget."

Jessica - age 8

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And the final one -- Author and lecturer Leo Buscaglia once talked about a
contest he was asked to judge.

The purpose of the contest was to find the most caring child.

The winner was a four year old child whose next door neighbor was an
elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife.

Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman's yard,
climbed onto his lap, and just sat there.

When his Mother asked what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy
said,

"Nothing, I just helped him cry"

Frustration

I seriously want to scream right about now. Last time I saw Doug was on July 5th. That doesn't seem like too long ago, but that seriously was about the last time I had a real conversation with him too. For some reason, our cell phones will not work there now, while he is on base. So, since July 5th, we have been able to pretty much say hey, what are you doing, and then get cut off. This is every time we have a conversation.

But what just happened really annoys the crap out of me. We went back and forth calling eachother just now like 5 times. Sometimes I could hear him and he couldnt hear me, and vice versa. So, I called him back just to ask him if he was going to bed and to say goodnight to him since it was obvious we aren't going to be able to have a conversation. I keep asking him if he is going to bed, and the phone is messing up. I hear nothing on his end, so I asked it like 3 or 4 times when finally i hear him say, in a nasty ass tone "i said yes! damn!" So, of course then I get kinda smart/upset with him back and then just say bye and hang up the phone.

Really this isn't anyones fault. We are both just frustrated beyond belief that we can't even have a conversation, but its like the one person I look forward to talking to, for the past two weeks, I haven't even been able to have a 5 minute conversation with. The part that really drives me crazy, and worries me is, this is nothing! What about in November when he goes away for 8 months and I hardly get to talk to him for that whole time? I mean, I never said that I thought any of this would be easy, but its just for some reason, this week all this crap is really taking its toll on me.

Oh, to make matters worse, he has a computer with a wireless router (however you spell that) that hardly works, so also this week, when the phones don't work, we try to have a conversation online, and well, that doesn't work. We get about 2 sentences into a conversation when his computer kicks him off. So, add that to the phones, and just not being able to see him, and well, I am just beyond annoyed at this point.

I think what is elevating all this frustration of mine is the fact that time seems to be flying by, and I know that in a matter of no time at all it feels like, he is going to be gone. Its like right now, all I want to do is talk to him and see him as much as possible, and thats almost impossible these days. We are right smack in the middle of my busiest season of work, so its hard for me to go to see him, and he can't just come home whenever he wants, due to different things he has going on there. If I don't get to see him this weekend, which is still up in the air, I probably won't see him again until the end of August or beginning of September. And then he leaves a couple months later.

Anyway, I know this means nothing to everyone else, and there is not one ounce of anything worth reading in here for anyone, but I seriously needed to vent right now, and I don't want to talk to anyone in person about it, because I will probably cry, so well, here I am.

This is the life I chose though, and he is the man I chose, and I had an idea what i was getting myself into, and it is seriously going to be one of the hardest things for me to deal with, but he is worth it. But I am sure there will be many more times like this to come, where I just need to get all my feelings out.

Good thing no one reads this mess of mine huh!?!