Lynn, all the feelings you're encountering, and more, are very, very normal and something that many others go through. As a former military wife, and present day military mother, I can relate to every thought and emotion that you're presently experiencing. My son is in the Air Force, as his dad used to be, and has been deployed to Iraq four times, twice for tours lasting over a year in duration. He's also done duty in Afghanistan and been deployed to other "hot" areas in the past that aren't mentionable. His military service was the key reason why my husband and I raised our grandson, my divorced son's child, for the first 12 years of his life - because dad was overseas and couldn't be there to raise him himself. My son was never a clinger, nor was I, and I'm also the one in our family who's always been positive in attitude with a a cup more than half full. Fortunately, I've always had a solid, close relationship with my first born and he's felt the freedom to make his own choices based on what he wants. Even so, your feeling of loss of control over your son's life is one that I can identify with, and understand, because I felt much the same way when he first signed up. Now it is more important than ever for you to take good care of yourself, and not let your concerns interfere with the quality of your health and sleep patterns. If they do, you need to seek the guidance of a physician for some sleep aids. I found that keeping regular contact with my son helped enormously, and thanks to present day communication methods, this was possible. We were able to email back and forth often and he was able to make a few pre-scheduled phone calls. When he first got in the service he was deployed to Korea for a year, and back then our only contact was by snail mail - nowadays communication is so much easier! For the long tours I spent a lot of time putting together packages to send, with notes, food, candy, personal items - whatever I thought he could use or enjoy. He loved getting packages from home. You didn't mention what branch of the military he is serving with, but I'm sure they all offer similar support groups for military families. I would urge you to find out what support groups are available for your son's unit, and get in contact with them. When my husband was in service, and deployed, we had a very active wives support group that kept all of us sane and much comforted. Being able to share your feelings with others in the same situation, who are also harboring similar concerns, is invaluable therapy and I urge you to take advantage of whatever groups are available. I will say that the situational depression I first felt eventually worked itself out, with reoccurrences every time he deployed again, but having someone to talk to, to share my feelings with, (other than him), was key to getting my head clear so I could continue to function on an even keel again. My heart goes out to you - and my thoughts will be with you. You'll feel more like yourself again, and you'll be okay, I promise.

Not sure if I can be of alot of help, but will try and lend what I can. My daughter lived with her dad for approx. 4 years, and I recieved custody back 3 yrs. ago. (by the way the reason I let dad have residential custody because at time I thought it was in her best interest- but later found out how very wrong I was!) Anyways, not sure if you are trying to get custody or just protect the best interset of your SD...but my advice is to document EVERYTHING!!! Write down the clothes she comes in and if they fit or not (perhaps even take a photo). If you call her and she explodes into a RAGE- write it down and what was sd. (i would suggest taping your telephone conversations-but don't think that is admissable in court if both parties don't know their being taped). If you and hubby take her for a haircut or for shots- write it down. Don't forget dates. Also if it is something that you think is very serious and harmful- there is always Child Protective Services. Call them and you can make an anonymous report and they need to investigate it. If this is something you want to pursue through the family court- then go ahead. But unfortunately it is very expensive to hire a lawyer to pursue something. I paid over $6,000 to get my daughter back- but best money I ever spent! I do feel for you and will keep you in my thoughts. We have LOTS of problems with my hubby's EX- she is like you sd- swears and is totally unreasonable about everything! It's very frustrating! Try your best to be there for your SD and let her know you and BH are always there for her if she ever needs anything or just to talk. Sounds as if the poor thing has no stability at home. Hugs to you.

Right as I mentioned my phone has the ability to create a hotspot for tethering but the unite provides more connections to it and also as shown in the article (pictures of speed tests) has much much better speeds and a very long lasting battery (very similar to using a home router). Using the cell phone for tethering multiple devices is often slow going and can not last as long as the battery on the unite. If I only used it rarely that would be ok but when we are traveling I am on the unite exclusively for the entire trip long term and the difference between it and the phone hotspot is significant and worth the price for it. Verizon has a similar offering too. I was curious if there were any other stand alone options other than ones that had to be part of an existing phone plan as I have now. That way I could go with a cheap cell phone plan and a separate stand alone wifi device plan. I have seen that you can get the unite as a prepaid version and use the cards you buy for minutes. That is something I am looking at. I would ideally like to separate the two so I can really drop down in the cell phone rates since we really don't use them much. I like having my smart phone but I can live with less there but not with out my portable wifi device. I did try just using the cell phone hotspot tethering but it just does not compare to using the unite. It is provided in my plan and on my phone so I can use that option anytime. Once you have experienced the difference between those 2 options it is hard to not have the unite and just go with phone hot spot.

I find that a dish pan protects your nice sink from many scratches. I did not have a dishwasher all during the years I had children at home. A towel folded only protects the bottom, not the sides. Many like to soak their dishes for a few minutes before washing them, you can do that in a sink or a dishpan. Years ago we also used a dishpan to rinse our dishes too as we did not have hot running water. Now I do not wash dishes usually in my sink, they go in the dishwasher, larger items like cooking kettles and big pans go into my sink with the dishpan in it. I have not seen the collapsible dishpan but do have the collapsible colander. Very handy. Sue