Life away from home:
When you look at your significant other there are three things you usually tend to feel. They may be different for everyone but the most common one is joy, or the ever famous butterflies in your stomach; which is physically impossible but whatever. The other two are for you to decide, for me, I remember that in the beginning it used to be fear, insecurity, but now I no longer feel those things. I no longer feel afraid to love. I feel proud. Proud to have made it this far. Proud to have overcome my fear. I look at him and I can't help but smile. I love him so much! But I can no longer tell if he loves me.
It's been about two months since he's been home and I have felt more lonely these past 2 months than the 6 that he was gone. He wont kiss me or touch me. He barely speaks to me; the kids are lucky if they get to hear "have a good day buddy" before they go to what is supposed to be school. I miss him so much. The before the war him. I understand that our current living situation isnt ideal and probably, well hopefully, the first reason as to why he is acting like this, but Sweets says otherwise. According to him, he is suffering from PTSD and all he needs is some time, and to know that he will always have someone there for him to talk to, and I've given him that, but he won't accept it! He spends his days staring out the window at the rubble….at what used to be the city of Washington DC. Wont talk to me, won't eat, will just sit there all day until it is so dark outside and he can no longer see anything.
It's been two months since the last bomb went off. Our friends, family, and a few people who have ventured through have started a nice little civilization right outside the Jeffersonian, and from an anthropological point of view it is doing very well!
We have two teachers, a few doctors, who luckily are all different specialties, former law enforcement agents, our team, and recently a farmer from Virginia who has started a garden making it so we no longer have to scavenge for food. Christine and Hank have adapted fairly well. The nightmares have stopped for Christine and I believe Hank is just too young to remember what life was like before this. I mean sure he remembers now but I believe that as he ages he will no longer remember life as we knew it two months ago.
I have been taking the kids to the local pediatrician once a week to make sure the radiation hasn't affected them and from what we can tell so far it hasn't. We would know more if we were able to run tests using the equipment in the lab but we need electricity for that which we unfortunately lost that last month. We tried to power the backup generator for the Jeffersonian but someone had siphoned all the gas out of it before we found where it was.
A few guys have started a scavenger group and its been working so far, but of course gas is a hidden treasure. Everybody wants it and no one can have it. Hodgins has been working on manufacturing it for weeks but hasn't been able to find any oil yet. I think his best bet would be to try and convert our current generator from gas to solar. Maybe we can even find a way to try and run it with the old cooking oil in the Jeffersonian Cafe.
The school has been up and running for about two weeks now. No complaints so far. Christine seems to really like it! I'm glad, it's pretty much the only thing that remains somewhat normal in her life. We have three teachers, Angela being one of them, and 4 areas of study. We have your basic English, Math, and Science, or the GE's, which Angela is currently teaching, as well as art of course. We also have Agricultural Studies and Survival, and finally Self Defense and Weaponry. Which is not my favorite thing for school aged kids to be learning, but I do agree that it is something very much needed nowadays. Christine hasn't quite decided what her favorite subject is. She said she needs to decide who her favorite teacher is first, but she does know that she still would like to be a car sales woman when she grows up. I told her she would need to bring cars back first. Naturally she asked what was wrong with the ones we have now, but anyway that's beside the point, she's up for designing the next functional car; with the help of daddy of course.
Day 1:
Booth finished the last touches on our cabin today. For some time now Sweets was the only one working on it, well Hodgins helped as well but he had his own cabin to build. But today Booth finally got out of his chair and finished the walls to Christine's room. It looks beautiful! I can finally say, we are home, our little village finally feels like home. Still had a very quiet day with one word answers but getting him out of that chair is most definitely progress. I wish I could say that for the rest of the camp though.
The scavenger group is struggling to find water. They expand their radius a mile every day but still no luck. Hodgins says there is a lake 10 miles north of here, but most of the group isn't willing to go out that far without any weapons or radiation equipment. I keep dropping hints for Booth so he could lead the group out there but he hasn't caught on. He still isn't speaking to me much but he is at least talking to me at the table now, so I understand why he would choose to ignore my hidden request for him to help the group go get water. Hodgins said he would happily go but he hasn't figured out to make his wheelchair all terrain with the little supplies that he has. He requested more supplies since he isn't the only who is in a wheelchair but of course the group said that they have more important things to scavenge for.
I decided to start this journal last week and am surprised to see how well I've kept up with it. I mean most of it so far is full of records like who lived here, their age, population, etc. I hope for this book to one day be a historical record on display in the new and improved Jeffersonian.
Any way nothing else interesting has happened today. I love the fact that Booth has started to speak to me and doesn't spend all day in the chair but today has most definitely been our most uneventful day so far. It may be because people are finally starting to acclimate to their new lifestyle. When we first started there were fights and accidents every single day.
I felt extremely proud of Christine today. I have been teaching a karate segment at the school for two weeks now and I have to say Christine is a natural. She was able to take down a boy twice her size in just one try! It was amazing to see. I can't wait for tomorrow's lesson!