On deployment

When Mark and I first started dating he told me he'd be deploying, at the time it was months away and I had no idea what to expect nor did I even think to start preparing myself for it. As time went on and we started getting serious, I started dreading it. Things were falling into place and all of a sudden he was going to be gone for 6 months.

I've said it before, military life is very new to me.  I'm learning that you have to be flexible and just go with the things you cannot change. Departure dates for instance, I swear the date changed 20 times. (Maybe I'm exaggerating a tad) I am very much a planner and it was very frustrating to me. There was a lot of anxiety leading up to him leaving,  each step in preparation made it that much more imminent. We had an early thanksgiving and Christmas as he was set to leave the Monday before thanksgiving. 

The night before he left, my mom watched the girls so I could stay with him and take him to base early. We had Rudy's BBQ and watched a movie. I tried to savor every moment knowing he'd be gone for 6 months. The only prior knowledge I had about deployment was what I'd seen on TV and we all know how accurate that is. There was no big patriotic send off, it was just me dropping him and his gear off on base at 3am in the cold rain. We got to the area that I was to drop him off, we talked a bit and stole a couple of kisses. Then at 3 am a truck pulled up, he loaded his stuff and we said our goodbyes. I made him promise me he'd be safe and he reassured me the time would go by quickly. 

Communication over the next week was sporadic, long flights, crappy wifi and a whole lot of hurry up and wait. The first week of him being gone seemed like an eternity, I remember thinking once he got to Afghanistan holy shit, he's barely getting there and it already feels like an eternity. Evelyn understood it was going to be a long time before Mark would be coming home but Lily is still too little.  It still makes me sad every time she asks for him. I just remind her that Mark is working far away. We have a little age appropriate deployment book Mark got her to read from time to time. As soon as he left I got onto Pinterest to see what I could do for the girls to help them adjust. So far we have a countdown gummy bear jar and a construction paper chain. The girls get one gummy bear a day and when the jar is all gone, Mark will be home! Everyday we are adding a link to countdown the days gone by, once we add the last link, we will have decorations for Marks homecoming. The paper chain is getting long, I need to find a good place for it! 

Even though we had an early thanksgiving and Christmas with our kids and his family, I really missed him during the holidays. It's tough when some of your "firsts" are spent apart. I've been trying to stay busy as much as I can without getting run down. I know he's said I don't have to send him stuff but it makes me feel like I am taking care of him as much as possible. I've sent him stuff to make his home away from home comfortable. He asked for a couple of foam egg crates for his crappy mattress, well being the awesome gf I am, I managed to fit a memory foam twin size mattress topper in a flat rate box! I vacuum sealed that sucker and taped the crap out of that box! 

So far he's gotten a birthday care package, one for Christmas with his own little tree, New Year's Eve and he just got his football themed one for the superbowl. His valentines day one is on the way complete with chocolates, cards from the girls and banana bread. Who knew you can make a cake or banana bread in a mason jar and it will stay fresh for weeks!!!! I love Pinterest. I just wish I would have taken pictures of the previous care packages. Oh well, lesson learned. 

I am very thankful we are able to communicate often, I know it could be much worse. Whether email, message or FaceTime the routine with our communication is comforting. The next package we're going to send is going to be full of girls scout cookies!!! I'm counting down the months till he's home, I want to start planning a little getaway for us. I'm still throwing around ideas for his homecoming, I'm going to do my best to oblige him and keep it low key. We're slowly getting there...... can't wait for him to be home.