The story behind the Screen

I just can’t bring myself to clean it… which is a problem when I edit!

Maybe I will clean it tonight… but I won’t hold my breath.

I posted this picture last week, after many requests from friends and family.

I’ve had equal amounts of requests from friends and family to CLEAN the darn thing… but I just can’t!

Now that’s I’ve put the image out there… I’ve had people e mail and ask… why so many smudges… and just clean the darn thing!

But each time I take a cloth with the mind to do it… it breaks my heart!

Tuck deployed in January and we weren’t quite sure how Linc was going to take it… he was only 1 after all.  We wondered if he would understand, would he get skype or would that make things worse?!  It took a month or two but he came to learn that daddy was now “in the box”.  He would wake up some days and ask “daddy box?!”  Those were usually the days that if we didn’t get to chat with Tuck, I was in store for some pretty typical 2 year old behavior 😉

At first Linc would wave and play on the floor with his trucks or whatever he could get his hands on (the box of pom poms I went to Michaels and bought thinking a craft box of pipecleaner’s and such was an awesome idea!)  After a few months, he started to learn and become more interactive.  He would sit on my lap and then eventually onto the desk that Tuck made and kneel in front of the computer and actually chat with daddy.

This is where all those loving little smudges came to exist!  Linc would sit or kneel on the desk and kiss the computer right where daddy’s lips would be.  He would kiss the green light where the camera was and then pat daddy’s face!  He would hug the computer and make his little boy love noises!  He would blow kisses for daddy and give high fives and knuckles!  He and Tuck would play peek a boo and sometimes the game would get a little out of hand and the computer was not so gently patted!  Trucks would sometimes use the computer as a race track and although I know better… it was more precious to me to see my boys playing together even though miles a part!

Tuck was able to hear all the new words that Linc was saying and still feel all the love and see it even through the distance!  More importantly, I could see it every day I walked past the office with all those finger prints and kiss marks!

As May approached and actually the week we found out Tuck was being sent home… Linc said his first real understandable and enunciated sentence!  He climbed up on the desk and told daddy (looking right into the camera) “I love you”.  That was the day before daddy found out he was coming home!

So even though I know the screen needs to be cleaned… it’s just not worth it to me right now!  As we wait to figure out whether daddy stays or daddy goes back… I love having those smudges as a reminder that family and love knows no distance!