I can't take it!!

     Last night I decided that I would finally take care of all of the carpet that I have rolled up in the garage from when we ripped it up to put the laminate down by putting an add on craigslist for Free carpet-approximately 1300 sq/ft of barely used beige carpet.  Sounds like a practical way to give it someone who will actually use it, right?  Wrong.  What did I do!  Since last night at about 10pm I have been receiving emails from people telling me their sob stories about why they need the carpet.  It has been posted for 9 hours and I have received 50 emails-who would have thought that many people in Fairbanks, Alaska checked out craigslist on a Friday night!  I received an email from a lady who said she has three kids, moved into a garage of a friends house that doesn't have carpet and one of her kids is learning how to walk and can't get off the couch because the floor is too cold.  How can I not give it to her and maybe even let her move into one of the empty rooms in my house!  I received another email from a lady that said her and her husband have been living in an empty house that they built and couldn't afford to finish it since "the oil money went dry" (I'm not sure how long this has been, it seems like the oil money in Alaska has been drying up for awhile now...) and her grandkids are coming to move in because their parents recently lost their job.  I have about 20 other stories similar to this and it breaks my heart-how am I supposed to choose!  I decided that I would go with the fairest way and just reply to the person who wrote me the first email-even if they don't have an emotional story for why they need the carpet but it makes me wish that I had free carpet for all.  Who would have thought that trying to free up some room in my garage would make me this depressed!
       On top of that, this morning I have the pleasure of watching Bree and Chuck (my neighbors)  almost 3 year old son Daenen because Chuck is leaving for his 12+ month deployment this morning.  He thought it would be too hard to have to say goodbye to him at the 'going away' hanger on base.  How do you explain to an almost 3 year old that their dad is going to be gone for the next year, all Daenen knows is that Dad is going to work and doesn't understand why people are so sad.  I asked if he said goodbye to his Dad and all he said was "Dog and Cat" because he is obsessed with my cats and dog.   As if that isn't enough, Bree is about 8 weeks pregnant and will be due in September and will now have to raise 'D' alone and be pregnant for the next year!  Both her dad and brother are deployed right now as well.  This whole military life thing is not for the weak of heart, and how it tears apart families for a year at a time is horrible, but both the needs of the Army and needs of the country come first.

This blog is dedicated to the Folks-Chuck be safe, you will be missed, Bree: you are the strongest military wife I know, and to all the people of Fairbanks who need carpet: I'm sorry that I don't have enough to go around.

**I promise that my blogs will get less depressing from now on, I realize that I won't have much of an audience if people contemplate slitting their wrists every time they read my blog!**