Well... Let me begin with saying that being married is pretty much the most superawesometasticest thing ever! Look that up in a dictionary :) Anyway! So this summer was/is not anything I had imagined it to be... Devin and I got married on a Saturday.
We were able to go to a nice resort for Saturday night and Sunday, and then that following Monday morning, we crammed into our little Civic and started the cross country trip to South Carolina for our summer job working with a pest control company. We decided to do this because this job would allow us to make bank over the summer and earn enough for school.
So we arrived in South Carolina that following Sunday evening, and then started work the very next day. And thus began a summer of nothing quite like I expected... Devin began the summer as a sales person. In this job one treks from door to door in an assigned neighborhood from 12-9 pm, knocking and re-knocking sometimes 3-4 times. This was Devin's life. A sales person's paycheck comes from their sales, so somedays they can work 9-10 hours and not make anything. Talk about stressful! But Devin did pretty well.
Now me? I have the lovely task of drenching the houses with pesticides and in the process usually end up drenching myself. What is required of me is I usually end up walking around the house 4-5 times depending on the house. 1 for taking down all webs, wasp nests, mud daubers, and any other pest creation (except bird nests) that might be on the house. 2 for spraying the entire house, top and bottom, around doors and windows. 3 for granulating the lawn. 4 for dusting the crawl space. And 5 for another go-around of webs that I missed the first time and found while spraying. I also have to go in each home and spray the inside. EVERY room around the baseboards. I then have to take down all the webs in the garage, spray in there, and hide little sticky traps, meant to catch bugs. Did I mention that the uniform I wear is all men's clothing? Yeah. I guess they never thought a girl would voluntarily choose to spray over sell, so I'm stuck dressing like a man 6 days a week 12-14 hours a day. Sweating constantly. No makeup. No cute hair. I can't even wear my engagement ring for fear of losing it. So why did i do this? Now that IS an intriguing question. It's probably because I can't even convince myself that I'd be a good sales person. If I can't convince myself, how am I supposed to convince people to buy something that they could easily do with their shoe or a can of Raid? (Granted, our pesticides are a little safer... Go Green!)
So the summer plodded on. Devin selling. Me spraying. Devin goes into work at 11. Me, whenever my first stop is. Usually 9 or 10. So the only time we see each other is for about 30 minutes every morning, if that..., and for about an hour or two at night... I'm beginning to regret not going on a honeymoon... Well, come June, Devin is having a rough time with sales so he decides to switch over to a technician position like me. Meaning he is gone by 8:30 every morning now and home generally between 9:30 and 10:30. Sometimes later. So now we get to see each other even less. On Sunday, the one day that we can see each other, if we're not at church we're sleeping... But we try to spend as much time together on Sunday as possible. One of our favorite activities to do is make dinner, since it's the only time we can make a legit one. So, Sunday family dinners are always the best :)
This job really makes me miss days off... We were able to make a family trip with me, Devin, Kellen, and Rylan, down to Six Flags in Atlanta, Georgia, on the 4th of July. That was a much needed, purely fun day! And it was really nice to escape Greenville and spend time with family. But about two weeks ago I ended up getting mono. For those who don't know what that is, imagine strep throat, but a bajillion times worse. It's the strep throat of all strep throats. So I've had my share of time off recently. I'm getting really bored just sitting at home by myself all day on the computer. I've cooked, and baked, and cleaned, and read, and even started compiling recipes that we've tried and liked, into a family cookbook. But I'm ready for summer to be done. I'm ready to get back to school and Provo, and *hold your breath* Chick-fil-A!!! But you know what? As much as I complain, I am not ungrateful toward this job... In fact I am extremely grateful for it. I've learned a lot. I've learned what it's like to work a physically exhausting job with a pleasant reward every two weeks for your hard work. I've learned how much I hate bugs, but I've also learned a new respect for salesmen and women. These guys (and girls) put up with so much crud from other people, but they're out there just trying to make a living too... Just like anyone else. Yeah, it may be annoying that they knock on your door when there's a "No Soliciting" sign at the front of your neighborhood. But it's gotta take a lot of confidence and will power to have door after door slammed in your face and still continue on... I have a new respect for them. I've learned even more how much I want to be a stay at home mom. I love having a place I can call home that's my responsibility to keep clean ***Yes Devin, I know it's your responsibility too, and not just mine :) *** And I really enjoy cooking meals for the family and just doing all those little small things that make a home feel like a home. I've learned a little bit more patience I think... But not too much :) I've learned that I'm not Wonder Woman, and that it's okay to ask for help. I've learned to get over my fear/dislike/hard time of calling people I don't know and talking to strangers... Don't worry Mom... I'll still never go up to a car where someone offers me candy... Not THAT kind of stranger :) I've learned that I'm more of a crier than I thought I was, but that I married a really good tissue for that :) But the most important thing I've learned? Is how much my husband loves me and how much I love him. It's the little things like in the pictures below that make me smile big and feel warm inside after a hard day's work. These hard days are bearable because he is working hard too, and because we're both working for the same goal--to be able to support ourselves during this upcoming school year. I love learning how to work together to support our family. And it sure is nice coming home to each other, give each other a hug and a kiss, and then leave everything else behind as we close the front door...
Life is only going to get better from here on out... Oh, and if anyone has some bugs they want to get rid of... I'm a pro. :)
